Jerusalem Archaeological Park
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About
Jerusalem Archaeological Park, also known as Ophel Garden, is an archaeological park established in the 1990s in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located south of the Western Wall Plaza and under the Dung Gate. The park was managed by the Ir David Foundation until 2021, when it changed management to the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter. The park contains an exhibition building, the Davidson Center, which displays finds from the surrounding excavations, including stone weights, ossuaries, and fragments of the Herodian Temple Mount's decorative stonework. The center reopened in 2023 after renovations, adding interactive galleries and new technology, and exhibits a rare coin minted by the last Hasmonean king, Antigonus II Mattathias, bearing the earliest known artistic depiction of the Temple menorah, predating the Temple's destruction by 107 years.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.