Cotton Merchants Gate (Bab al-Qattanin)

The Cotton Merchants Gate viewed from within Masjid al-Aqsa

The Cotton Merchants Gate, also known as ‘Bab al-Qattanin’, is one of the most beautiful gates which leads into Masjid al-Aqsa from the western side. It was built by the Mamluk Sultan Muhammad bin Qaloun in 737 AH.

The name is derived from the fact that the gate leads out to the Cotton Market in the Old City of Jerusalem.
During the 19th century the outside of the Cotton Merchants Gate was a popular place of prayers for Jews. They considered it to be the closest place they could get to the ‘Foundation Stone’ (the rock inside the Dome of the Rock which they consider holy) without actually stepping foot onto what they consider the Temple Mount.