New Gate

New Gate, Old City of Jerusalem
Location in Old Jerusalem
Alternative names	Bab al-Jadid (Arabic); HaSha'ar HaHadash (Hebrew); Gate of the Sultan
General information
Type	city wall gate
Location	Western section of the northern wall of Jerusalem
Town or city	Jerusalem
Coordinates	31°46′45.5″N 35°13′34.6″E / 31.779306°N 35.226278°E / 31.779306; 35.226278
Elevation	790 metres (2,590 ft)
Construction started	1887
Completed	1889

The New Gate (Arabic: باب الجديد‎‎ Bāb ij-Jdïd) (Hebrew: השער החדש‎‎ HaSha'ar HeChadash) is the newest gate in the walls that surround the Old City of Jerusalem. It was built in 1889 to provide direct access between the Christian Quarter and the new neighborhoods then going up outside the walls. The arched gate is decorated with crenelated stonework. The New Gate was built at the highest point of the present wall, at 790 metres (2,590 ft) above sea level.

The New Gate was the name used by the Ottoman administration. It was also known as Bab es Sultan Abd ul Hamid by the Arab workforce for the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II who allowed the building. It should not be confused with the New Gate of the Second Temple complex mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah (26:10; 36:10) that served as entrance to the Great Sanhedrin's Hall of Hewn Stones, and was previously called the Benjamin Gate.

During the 3rd and 4th centuries the northern wall was rebuilt and improved by the Byzantines leaving no trace or record of a gate in this sector of the fortification. While there is no information about a gate preexisting at this point in the wall before the city was occupied by the Crusaders, there is a suggestion that they maintained a small postern gate, named after St. Lazarus, just east of the Ottoman construction for the use of troops stationed at Tancred's Tower (Goliath's Tower). Uncovered during drainage and sewage works in the area, it may have also been used by the knights of the Leper's Order also quartered there. Early records of the Crusades suggest the wall was breached after the Crusader occupation on the orders of Tancred The gate may well have been, with the tower subsequently named after him. The breach may have been later converted into a gate.

The Crusader gate may have been sealed up following Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187 because it did not conform to architectural style of fortifications used by the Turkish armies. The earlier Crusader gate had "...a roundabout entrance, dim approaches, and a tower that protruded from the line of fortifications." By contrast the earlier gates as well as the Ottoman gate are constructed within the city, and aligned with the facade of the wall. The older gates were probably sealed by the external wall built in 1516 by Suleyman the Magnificent. However, another gate was reported in the 16th century called the Gate of the Serbian Monastery, that was used by the Franciscans while they were building the Church of St. Salvatore.