Sha'ar HaGai

Sha'ar HaGai (Hebrew: שער הגיא‎) in Hebrew, or Bab al-Wad in Arabic (Hebrew: באב אל-ואד‎, Arabic: باب الواد‎‎ or باب الوادي), lit. Gate of the Valley in both languages, is a point on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, 23 km from Jerusalem, where the road begins to ascend through a deep valley flanked by steep rocky slopes, named in Arabic Wadi Ali.

The Jaffa–Jerusalem road was initially made accessible for wheeled vehicles by the Ottomans in 1867 and since then served as the main highway to Jerusalem, favoured over more topographically convenient routes such as Route 443, known since biblical times as the Ascent of Beth-Horon. The journey from Jaffa to Jerusalem was reduced, thanks to this upgrade, from three to two days and Bab al-Wad became the one place where travellers had to stop for the night. For this purpose, the Ottomans built there an inn or caravansary, used soon after, in 1869, the year of the inauguration of the Suez Canal, by travelling royalty taking a detour to Jerusalem such as Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, the future British king Edward VII and the future German emperor Frederick III. In 1898 it was used again by German emperor Wilhelm II and his wife Augusta Victoria. The largest bell for the church of the Augusta Victoria Foundation, initiated during the 1898 visit and built between 1907 and 1910, weighed six tonnes and required that the road be widened and paved.

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