The Cardo - Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem

We are so fortunate to have wonderful professors who direct our field trips. We stopped to see a model of the Old City as it was around 600 AD before we went to the cardo ruins in the Jewish Quarter.

Dr. Allred explained that the Cardo was the main street in ancient Roman cities, running from north to south and lined with a row of columns on each side. The Cardo of Jerusalem begins at Damascus Gate (lower right) in the north and crosses the city southwards until the area of Zion Gate.

The southern section stretches from this point to the length of the western side of the Jewish Quarter and was built in the Byzantine period, in the 6th century AD, continuing the Roman Cardo to its north.

Photo: Ancient mosaic of Jerusalem. The center of the map is an open-faced depiction of Jerusalem with the city walls, gates, churches (with red roofs), and the Cardo. This main street of the city is depicted with two rows of colonnades running the length of the city from north to south.

Excavations in the Jewish Quarter have uncovered sections of the Byzantine Cardo extending intermittently for approximately 600 feet.

The Cardo was comprised of a central lane, open to the sky, for the passage of carriages and animals, flanked on each side by colonnaded covered walkways for pedestrians.

Israeli soldiers were taking a tour and were fascinated with the large mural on the wall.

The road was paved with stone slabs and was 72 feet wide.

The central street of the Cardo is 40 feet wide and is lined on both sides with columns. This street was the main thoroughfare of Byzantine Jerusalem and served both residents and pilgrims. Large churches flanked the Cardo in several places. In the southern section of the Cardo, buildings from later periods were removed, revealing the Byzantine Cardo level. In some sections of the Cardo, excavations revealed covered stalls and workshops that stood alongside the walkways.

The columns supported a wooden (no longer preserved) roof that covered the shopping area and protected the patrons from the sun and rain. Today the Byzantine street is about 20' below the present street level, indicating the level of accumulation in the last 1400 years.

Uncovered by Nahman Avigad’s team in the 1970s, the Cardo in the Jewish Quarter was excavated for about 650 feet. This portion dates to the time of Emperor Justinian in the first half of the 6th c. A.D. An earlier portion of the Cardo was constructed in the Roman period beginning at the modern Damascus Gate in the north, but it didn’t stretch this far south until centuries later.

Today you can stroll through the Cardo just like the residents of Jerusalem used to in the 6th century AD.

There is a big difference in shops in the other quarters versus the Jewish Quarter. The streets are much wider and the shops are bigger with better quality merchandise. There are also some fine jewelry and art shops along the way.

Photo: Jewish Quarter street.

Photo: In contrast, here is a street from Christian Quarter. (Streets are narrower, shops are smaller and cluttered).

Photo: Jewish Quarter.

It was time to get back to the Jerusalem Center so we went back through the Christian Quarter on our way out.

I have said this before but will say it again, "Every day is a new adventure!"