Davidson Center, Jerusalem, Israel

Standing: Notable
Rank: Rank 643 of 2,073

Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

About Davidson Center

The Davidson Center is the exhibition building of the Jerusalem Archaeological Park (also called the Ophel Garden), an archaeological park set up in the 1990s in the Old City of Jerusalem, south of the Western Wall Plaza and below the Dung Gate. It displays finds from the surrounding excavations, including stone weights, ossuaries and fragments of the decorative stonework of the Herodian Temple Mount. The centre reopened in 2023 after renovation with interactive galleries. Since 2021 the park has been run by the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter; its entrance is through an underpass on the access road to the Western Wall.

Checked 2026-11-10 · Source

What's inside

Among the centre's exhibits is a rare coin of the last Hasmonean king, Antigonus II Mattathias, with the earliest known depiction of the Temple menorah. The park outside lies at the foot of the Temple Mount's Southern Wall and holds finds from the Bronze Age (around 3000 BC) to the Ottoman period. It is divided into three sections, each excavated to one layer: a Second Temple compound by the Western Wall, about 2,000 years old; a Byzantine compound by the eastern half of the Southern Wall; and an Early Muslim period compound by its western half.

Checked 2026-11-10 · Source