Editing Western Wall (section)

===Height, courses, building stones===
At the Western Wall Plaza, the total height of the Wall from its foundation is estimated at {{Convert|105|ft|m|0}}, with the above-ground section standing approximately {{Convert|62|ft|m|0}} high. The Wall consists of 45 stone courses, 28 of them above ground and 17 underground.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://english.thekotel.org/content.asp?id=28 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051214002214/http://english.thekotel.org/content.asp?Id=28 |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 14, 2005 |title= The Story of the Kotel: Facts and Figures |publisher= The Western Wall Heritage Foundation }}</ref> The first seven above-ground layers are from [[Herodian kingdom|the Herodian period]]. This section of wall is built from enormous [[meleke]] [[limestone]] [[ashlar|blocks]], possibly quarried at either [[Zedekiah's Cave]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Quarrying History in Jerusalem |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E2D81E38F932A35751C1A963948260|work=The New York Times |last=Friedman |first= Thomas L. |access-date=October 18, 2008 |date=December 1, 1985 |quote=Herod the Great certainly used it as the main quarry for building blocks needed to renovate the Temple and its retaining walls, including what is known today as the Wailing Wall. |author-link=Thomas Friedman}}</ref> situated under the [[Muslim Quarter (Jerusalem)|Muslim Quarter]] of the [[Old City of Jerusalem|Old City]], or at [[Ramat Shlomo]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411466635&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130619155456/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411466635&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 19, 2013 |title= Archeologists find 2nd Temple quarry |last= Lefkovits |first= Etgar |access-date= October 18, 2008 |date= September 12, 2007 |newspaper= [[The Jerusalem Post]]
| quote= An ancient quarry where King Herod's workers chiseled huge high-quality limestones for the construction of the Second Temple, including the Western Wall, has been uncovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Sunday (...) Dozens of quarries have previously been uncovered in Jerusalem—including ones larger than the present find—but this is the first one that archeologists have found which they believe was used in the construction of the Temple Mount itself.}}</ref> {{convert|4|km}} northwest of the Old City. Most of them weigh between {{convert|2|and|8|ST|lk=on|abbr=off}} each, but others weigh even more, with one [[Western Stone|extraordinary stone]] located slightly north of [[Wilson's Arch (Jerusalem)|Wilson's Arch]]<ref name= BenDov83>{{cite book |last1= Ben Dov |first1= Meir |last2= Naor |first2= Mordechai |last3= Aner |first3= Ze'ev |title= The Western Wall |year= 1983 |publisher= Ministry of Defence Publishing House |location= Israel |isbn= 965-05-0055-3 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/westernwall00bend/page/ 41–62] |chapter= II: Architecture and Archaeology |url=https://archive.org/details/westernwall00bend/page/ }}</ref> measuring {{convert|13.55|m|ft}} long, {{convert|3.3|m|ft}} high,<ref name= HeritageF>{{cite web |title= Facts and Figures: The Great Course (Nidbach Raba) |publisher = [[Western Wall Heritage Foundation]] |url= https://thekotel.org/en/wailing-wall-western-wall/ |access-date=2024-10-26 }}</ref> approximately {{convert|1.8 to 2.5|m|ft}} deep,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://people.uwec.edu/jolhm/research_pub/publications.htm |title= Publications, #79 |last= Jol |first= H. M. |display-authors= etal |year= 2006 |access-date=13 August 2015}}</ref><ref name= JolBahat>Harry M. Jol, Paul D. Bauman and [[Dan Bahat]]: ''Looking into the Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel''. Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR 2006), June 19–22, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Papers on CD-ROM. Also in: Dan Bahat, ''The Jerusalem Western Wall Tunnel'', Israel Exploration Society, 2013, pp. 395–440.</ref> and weighing between {{Convert|250 and 300|t|ST}}.<ref name= JolBahat/> Each of these [[ashlars]] is framed by fine-chiseled borders. The margins themselves measure between {{convert|5|and|20|cm|0}} wide, with their depth measuring {{convert|1.5|cm}}. In the Herodian period, the upper {{convert|10|m|0}} of wall were {{convert|1|m|in|0}} thick and served as the outer wall of the double [[colonnade]] of the Temple platform. This upper section was decorated with [[pilaster]]s, the remainder of which were destroyed when the [[Byzantine]]s reconquered Jerusalem from the [[Sasanian Empire|Persians]] in 628.<ref name= BenDov83/>

The next four courses, consisting of smaller plainly dressed stones, are [[Umayyad]] work (8th century, Early Muslim period).<ref name= EJWW>{{cite book |title= Encyclopedia Judaica |edition= 2nd |volume= 21 |pages= 24–27 |author= Jacob Auerbach, [[Dan Bahat]] and Shaked Gilboa |chapter= Western Wall |publisher= Macmillan |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0028659282}}</ref> Above that are 16 to 17 courses of small stones from the [[Mamluk]] period (13th–16th centuries) and later.<ref name= EJWW/>