Editing Temple Mount (section)

==== Lower platform ====
[[File:TM washing.JPG|thumb|The ''al-Kas'' ablution fountain for Muslim worshippers on the southern portion of the lower platform]]
The lower platform – which constitutes most of the surface of the Temple Mount – has at its southern end al-Aqsa Mosque, which takes up most of the width of the Mount. Gardens take up the eastern and most of the northern side of the platform; the far north of the platform houses an Islamic school.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://campsci.com/museum/images/43e.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020718222845/http://campsci.com/museum/images/43e.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-07-18 |title=Photograph of the northern wall area |access-date=2018-04-05}}</ref>

The lower platform also houses an [[sebil (fountain)|ablution fountain]] (known as ''al-Kas''), originally supplied with water via a long narrow aqueduct leading from the so-called ''[[Solomon's Pools]]'' near [[Bethlehem]], but now supplied from Jerusalem's water mains.

There are several [[cisterns]] beneath the lower platform, designed to collect rainwater as a water supply. These have various forms and structures, seemingly built in different periods, ranging from vaulted chambers built in the gap between the bedrock and the platform, to chambers cut into the bedrock itself. Of these, the most notable are (numbering traditionally follows Wilson's scheme<ref>{{cite web|url=http://campsci.com/museum/images/map.gif |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011214121205/http://campsci.com/museum/images/map.gif |url-status=dead |archive-date=2001-12-14 |title=Wilson's map of the features under the Temple Mount |access-date=2018-04-05}}</ref>):
* Cistern 1 (located under the northern side of the upper platform). There is a speculation that it had a function connected with the altar of the Second Temple (and possibly of the earlier Temple),<ref name=Kaufman>{{cite news
|url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99716364.html?dids=99716364:99716364&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+12%2C+1991&author=Asher+Kaufman&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=13&desc=THE+TEMPLE+SITE
|title = The Temple Site
|last = Kaufman
|first = Asher
|date = May 23, 1991
|work = [[The Jerusalem Post]]
|format = Abstract
|page = 13
|access-date = March 4, 2007
|quote = The most important findings of the superposition of the Second Temple on the Temple area are that the Dome of the Rock was not built on the site of the Temple, and that the Temple was taper-shaped on the western side, a form hitherto unknown to the scholars.
|archive-date = September 30, 2007
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930220816/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99716364.html?dids=99716364:99716364&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+12,+1991&author=Asher+Kaufman&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=13&desc=THE+TEMPLE+SITE
|url-status = dead
}}</ref> or with the ''[[Molten Sea|bronze sea]]''.
* Cistern 5 (located under the southeastern corner of the upper platform){{snd}}a long and narrow chamber, with a strange anti-clockwise curved section at its northwestern corner and containing within it a doorway currently blocked by earth. The cistern's position and design is such that there has been speculation it had a function connected with the altar of the Second Temple (and possibly of the earlier Temple), or with the ''bronze sea''. [[Charles Warren]] thought that the ''altar of burnt offerings'' was located at the northwestern end.<ref name=Patrich>{{cite news | url = http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362927,00.html
|title = Researcher says found location of the Holy Temple | date = February 9, 2007
|newspaper = [[Ynetnews]] | access-date = March 4, 2007 | quote = Archaeology Professor Joseph Patrich uncovered a large water cistern that points, in his opinion, to the exact location of the altar and sanctuary on the Temple Mount. According to his findings, the rock on which the Dome of the Rock is built is outside the confines of the Temple.}}</ref>
* Cistern 8 (located just north of the al-Aqsa Mosque){{snd}}known as the ''Great Sea'', a large rock hewn cavern, the roof supported by pillars carved from the rock; the chamber is particularly cave-like and atmospheric,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://campsci.com/museum/images/48c.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020719185830/http://campsci.com/museum/images/48c.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-07-19 |title=Under the Temple Mount |access-date=2018-04-05}}</ref> and its maximum water capacity is several hundred thousand gallons.
* Cistern 9 (located just south of cistern 8, and directly under the al-Aqsa Mosque){{snd}}known as the ''Well of the Leaf'' due to its leaf-shaped plan, is also rock hewn.
* Cistern 11 (located east of cistern 9){{snd}}a set of vaulted rooms forming a plan shaped like the letter E. Probably the largest cistern, it has the potential to house over 700,000 gallons of water.
* Cistern 16/17 (located at the centre of the far northern end of the Temple Mount). Despite the currently narrow entrances, this cistern (17 and 16 are the same cistern) is a large, vaulted chamber, which Warren described as looking like the inside of the cathedral at [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]] (which was previously a mosque). Warren believed that it was almost certainly built for some other purpose and was only adapted into a cistern at a later date; he suggested that it might have been part of a general vault supporting the northern side of the platform, in which case substantially more of the chamber exists than is used for a cistern.