History, prayer notes, dress code and etiquette — written for Jewish, Christian and Catholic readers who want to understand the place before they visit, or who cannot travel and want to see it.
The Western Wall is the best-known surviving piece of the Second Temple complex in Jerusalem, and one of the most visited places in the world. People come to pray, to read, to celebrate a bar or bat mitzvah, to stand quietly for a few minutes, and to leave a folded note between the stones. This guide covers what the Wall is, what happens there, and the questions visitors most often ask — including the ones Christian and Catholic travellers ask.
The Wall is the western section of the massive retaining wall that supported the artificial platform of the Temple Mount. That platform was enlarged and rebuilt under Herod the Great around 20 BCE, using limestone blocks so heavy that some weigh hundreds of tons. Above ground you see a run of stone courses; below the plaza the wall continues for many more courses, exposed in tunnels that can be visited today.
In 70 CE the Roman army destroyed the Temple itself. The retaining wall survived because it was infrastructure rather than the building, and over the centuries it became the place where Jews came to mourn the Temple and to pray. Between 1948 and 1967 the Old City was under Jordanian control and Jews could not reach the Wall; after 1967 the area in front of it was cleared into the broad plaza that exists today.
The name entered European languages in the nineteenth century, when travellers wrote about Jews weeping at the stones. It is still common in English guidebooks and in search, and you will see it used interchangeably with Western Wall. Jewish and Israeli usage says Western Wall, or simply Kotel — Hebrew for "wall". This page uses both so that readers arriving by either name find it.
No. The Temple building stood on the platform above; the Wall held that platform up. What remains is the outer shell of the complex, not the sanctuary. Because Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount itself is restricted for religious reasons, the Wall is the holiest place where Jewish prayer is customary and unrestricted — which is why it carries the weight it does.
The Wall is a place of prayer first, and a monument second. Services run through the day and night; minyanim gather for morning, afternoon and evening prayer; Torah scrolls are read on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and festivals. Bar and bat mitzvah celebrations are frequent, especially on Mondays and Thursdays. Women pray in their own section, men in theirs, and a screen (mechitza) separates them — a layout that follows Orthodox practice and that this site respects.
Names for the parts you will see: the kippah is the small head covering worn as a sign of reverence; the tallit is the fringed prayer shawl; the mechitza is the dividing screen; tefillin are the small leather boxes worn by men at weekday morning prayer.
Christians usually meet the Wall in two ways: as a historical site tied to the Gospels, and as a place that is unmistakably Jewish in its practice. Both are true at once.
Historically, the Wall stood during the lifetime of Jesus and formed part of the Temple complex the Gospels describe him entering, teaching in, and leaving. The famous Gospel scenes of the Temple courts happened on the platform this wall supported. That is why the Western Wall appears on almost every Christian Holy Land itinerary, alongside the Mount of Olives, Gethsemane and the Holy Sepulchre.
In practice, the Wall is not a church and no sacraments are celebrated there. Christian visitors pray quietly, read a psalm, or simply stand. It is normal and welcome to leave a note. If you are travelling with a group, keep the group small and quiet near the prayer area, and avoid filming people at prayer.
A useful distinction: the Temple Mount above is administered by a Muslim trust and has separate visiting rules and hours; the plaza below, where the Wall stands, is open to everyone.
Catholic Holy Land pilgrimages are usually built around the life of Jesus — Nazareth, Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — and the Western Wall appears as a stop that illuminates the Temple scenes of the Gospels. Groups often read Psalm 122 ("I rejoiced when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord") on the approach, since that psalm is about entering the Temple precinct.
Two practical notes help. First, the Wall is a Jewish place of prayer: modest dress, quiet, and respect for the separate men's and women's sections apply to every visitor, and a kippah is expected of men regardless of faith. Second, the plaza is busiest on Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and festivals, when it is worth visiting simply to observe rather than to lead a group devotion.
Writing a prayer on a slip of paper, folding it, and pushing it into a crack between the stones is an old and widely shared custom. The idea is simple: a note lets someone leave a request, a thank-you, a name to remember, or a sentence they cannot say out loud. Notes are treated as private. They are gathered twice a year — before Passover and before Rosh Hashanah — and buried, typically on the Mount of Olives, rather than read, published or discarded.
If you write one: keep it short, write legibly, and do not leave valuables or anything you need back. In this site's 3D walkthrough you can write a note and see it folded into the wall; the text is kept anonymously, capped in number, and never published under a name.
Yes. The plaza is public and visitors of any faith — or none — may approach, pray, sit, read and leave a note. Nothing requires you to be Jewish, and no one will ask. What is expected is the ordinary courtesy of a house of prayer: dress modestly, speak quietly, do not photograph individuals at prayer without asking, and follow the directions for the men's and women's areas.
If a flight to Jerusalem is not possible, this site offers a browser-based 3D reconstruction of the plaza: you walk from the gate to the stones, see the two prayer sections and the mechitza, put on a kippah and a tallit, read at a prayer stand, sit on the plaza chairs, and leave a note between the stones. Psalm 121 can be read in Hebrew, in an English translation and in Chinese, and the interface switches between those three languages.
It is built as cultural education — a way to understand the place, its furnishings and its customs — and it says so plainly: it is not a religious service, not a substitute for visiting, and it never scores or judges anyone's practice. Live cameras offer real-time sight of the plaza; the walkthrough offers something different, a space you can move through at your own pace.
It is historically important rather than sacramental: the Wall is the surviving retaining wall of the Second Temple courtyard the Gospels describe. Most Christians treat it as a place of biblical memory and pray there privately.
Christian reverence for the Wall comes from its connection to the Temple and the Gospels rather than from a church designation. It is a Jewish holy place that Christians also hold in honour, and visiting it is a matter of respect rather than ritual obligation.
Yes — anyone may pray, sit, read and leave a note. Modest dress, quiet and respect for the separate sections are the only expectations.
As a way of leaving a prayer in writing. Notes are collected twice a year and buried; they are not read or published.
Modest clothing with shoulders and knees covered, and a head covering for men (paper kippot are provided). Comfortable shoes help on the stone paving.
No. The Temple stood on the platform; the Wall supported that platform. The Wall is what remains of the complex's outer retaining wall.
From nineteenth-century travel writing about Jews weeping in prayer there. Western Wall, or Kotel, is the name used in Jewish and Israeli usage.
Yes. A free 3D walkthrough of the plaza runs in the browser with no download, and includes the prayer notes, the two sections, and Psalm 121 in Hebrew, English and Chinese.
Further reading
Chabad.org: The Western Wall · Aish: The Western Wall · Wikidata: Q170715