A 2000-year-old road which would have been used by Jesus in Jerusalem has fully opened to the public after 20 years of excavation.
The 'Pilgrimage Road', which served as the City of David’s main street, connected the Pool of Siloam to the summit of the Temple Mount.
It stretches for 600 metres and is eight metres wide, but it is now mainly underground because over the centuries, the route has been covered with rubble and houses have been built on top.
The excavation work has revealed an ancient marketplace, Roman drainage channel, and artifacts from the Second Temple period which lasted from 516 BC to 70 AD.
Annaelle Choukroun from the City of David said: “It was built during Roman times by King Herod in around 20BC and led the Jews from the Siloam Pool, which was the biggest ritual bath at the time, to the temple. People would cleanse at the pool and then walk up this huge road and all the way to the temple.”
It’s believed the pool was used by pilgrims who had journeyed from outlying villages to cleanse before walking up to the temple.
Archaeologists were unaware of the road’s existence until 2004 when a pipe burst and needed to be replaced. During the work, steps were discovered which would have taken people into the pool.
Annaelle Choukroun said the rest of the pool was underground, because the ground there belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church: “So we couldn't excavate there, meaning that only in 2023 did the City of David acquire the land from the Greek Orthodox Church, and we have been excavating it ever since, which means that if you were to come today, you would see ancient steps made out of stone, and then the rest is a huge archeological site.”
During the excavations, archaeologists found several coins from Jesus’ time, including a half shekel which would have been taken by pilgrims to the temple.
Merchants’ scale weights and stone measuring tables were also discovered as the route would have also served as a bustling marketplace.
The route is hugely significant for Christians because as Annaelle Choukroun said, “it allows them to finally walk up the same road where Jesus walked. For Jews, we are walking through the same road where our ancestors walked 2000 years ago. It’s a blessing and very unique.
“It reaffirms my faith every single day. It tells me not just that it happened, but that there is no way that anyone could deny my heritage with this land, our heritage, because it's a shared heritage, and that is extremely powerful.”
The Pilgrimage Road is part of the City of David National Park.