A few marble paving stones on the Temple Mount Plaza reveal to us a secret about why marble, and not limestone, was used to pave the surface of the Azara courtyard in the Holy Temple!
In addition to seeing the remaining marble stones on the Temple Mount, many marble stones from the Temple Mount have been uncovered in the special Temple Mount sifting project.
Ideally, they should have all been found as part of a proper archeological dig, but unfortunately, the Muslims dug up the Solomon’s Stables area of the Temple Mount illegally and dumped tens of thousands of dirt outisde of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Thankfully, a number of private individuals who saw the massive dump of dirt with artifacts from one of the most precious archeological places in the world, took it upon themselves to sift through all the dirt to ensure that none of the historical artifacts from the Temple Mount would be lost. And so was born the Temple Mount sifting project.
Since the sifting project began in 2004, hundreds of lavish stone floor tiles believed to have decorated Herod’s Second Temple floor have been identified in rubble removed from the Temple Mount.
A Temple Mount Moment is the joint project of the Temple Institute and High on the Har. Temple Mount experts and co founders of High on the Har, Dr. Melissa Jane Kronfeld and Rabbi Yehuda Levi present each week fascinating facts and insights about the Temple Mount and the Holy Temple, its past, present and future!