Damascus Gate "Bab El'Amud" (Map of Wall) Located towards the middle of the North Wall, it is the most elaborate of the city gates and the finest examples of Ottoman architecture in the region. The first gate on this sight was founded by Herod Agrippa I (AD 41-44). Rebuilt by Hadrian in AD 135 as the free-standing monumental entrance to Aelia Capitolina. It gave on to a semi-circular Plaza from which ran the two principal roads corresponding to the present Tareq El-Wad and Soq Khan El-Zeit). This arched gate, with a pedestrian entrance on either side, was integrated into a wall, following the line of the present North Wall, only at the end of the third century. It remained in use until the fifth century. By the eighth century Debris had blocked the two side entrances and Umayyads sank a cistern in front of each. The central entrance must have been raised. The gate takes its modern name from the fact that it leads to the North and Syria. Called the Shechem Gate by the Jews.  It is also known as Bab-el-Amud 'the Gate of Column' possibly in point of reference to the huge column drums found on the site.