Every year, millions of visitors flock to the Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, for prayer, meditation and inspiration. In recent years, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation has added exciting educational tours and activities adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza for the entire family. These activities include the Kotel Tunnels Great Bridge Route, the Kotel Tunnels Great Stone Route, the Chain of Generations Center, the Second Temple Virtual Reality Experience- A Look into the Past, and the Journey to Jerusalem.
One can spend many hours visiting the Western Wall and participating in the many available tours. But what if your time is limited? Which activities should you choose? The following is a guide for those with limited time at the Western Wall who want to maximize their experience:
One-hour visit– If you have just one hour at the Kotel, we recommend that you visit the Chain of Generations Center, a state-of-the-art interactive exhibit, where visitors experience the history of the Jewish people throughout the generations, from the time of Abraham until the emergence of the modern State of Israel.
This exhibit takes you on the journey of the Jewish nation and past generations, which form the chain that passes from family to family and from generation to generation. The exhibit emphasizes the personal connection each of us has with our nation’s chain of generations.
Two-hour visit – If you have more time, we suggest the Kotel Tunnel Tours and the Second Temple Virtual Reality Experience. There are two Kotel Tunnel Tours available: the Great Stone Route, which includes a tour along the length of the Western Wall, a visit to the site closest to the Holy of Holies, and a visit to the Western Wall’s huge stone, and the Great Bridge Route, which takes visitors one more level underground to view the Great Bridge that led to the Second Temple. This route showcases different rooms and halls that served the people of that time, new and exciting findings, and offers a glimpse of a new exposure of the Western Wall.
The Second Temple Virtual Reality Experience presents a tour of the Second Temple using advanced virtual-reality technology. This 360-degree perspective lets you see the beauty of the Temple that was destroyed approximately 2,000 years ago. During the visit, visitors don special VR (virtual reality) goggles to glimpse Jerusalem and the Temple as it looked thousands of years ago, in all its glory.
Three-hour visit – For those with more time to spend at the Western Wall, we recommend one of the Kotel Tunnel Tours listed above, combined with the Journey to Jerusalem. This multimedia computer experience enables visitors to walk in the footsteps of their family and community and experience the most critical milestones in their history. This personal and national voyage places visitors in the shoes of our forefathers as we encounter the challenges and dilemmas on their way to realizing their dream. It is a thought-provoking and exciting experience.
The Western Wall is also known as the Wailing Wall or the Kotel