Tower of David

The Tower of David (Jerusalem citadel) is located on the western side of the old city (near Jaffa gate). It is the main entrance from the western section to the eastern (old city section). 

Herod the Great, the great builder of Jerusalem and Israel, added here 3 mighty towers (37-34 BCE).  The western third tower still stands, and is the base of the current citadel. The Ottomans also installed a mosque near the southwest corner of the citadel, erecting a minaret during the years 1635-1655. In the 19th century the conspicuous minaret, which still stands today

Herod built his palace in the adjacent area south to the towers.

The Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem was opened in 1989 by the Jerusalem Foundation. Located in a series of chambers in the original citadel, the museum includes a courtyard which contains archeological ruins dating back 2,700 years.  The exhibits depict 4,000 years of Jerusalem's history, from its beginnings as a Canaanite city to modern times. Using maps, videotapes, holograms, drawings and models, the exhibit rooms each depict Jerusalem under its various rulers. 

Hellenistic period the walls were first built by the Hasmonean kings in the 2nd C BCE in the highest point in the old city (2,536 ft.). This construction was in order to strengthen the new expanded western side, the "upper city".

The psalm is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 607 BCE. The rivers of Babylon are the Tigris and Euphrates.  

During the Arab conquest (638AD) a fortress was built, and later was conquered (1099) and then rebuilt by the Crusaders. 

During the Arab conquest (638 CE) a fortress was rebuilt.

During the Crusader period (1099 – 1187), thousands of pilgrims undertook the pilgrimage to Jerusalem by way of the port at Jaffa. To protect pilgrims from the menace of highway robbers, the Crusaders built a tower surrounded by a moat atop the citadel, and posted lookouts to guard the road to Jaffa.  The citadel also protected the newly erected palace of the Crusader kings of Jerusalem, located immediately south of the citadel.

The Crusaders were driven out from Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187.   The Mamluks rebuilt the citadel and gave it much of its present shape.  The citadel was expanded between 1537 and 1541 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.  For 400 years, the citadel served as a garrison for Turkish troops. 

During World War I, British forces under General Edmund Allenby captured Jerusalem. General Allenby formally proclaimed the event standing on a platform outside the eastern gate to the citadel.

During the period of the British Mandate (1917–1948), the High Commissioner established the Pro-Jerusalem Society to protect the city's cultural heritage. This organization cleaned and renovated the citadel and reopened it to the public as a venue for concerts, benefit events and exhibitions by local artists.