Bab al-Asbat (باب الأسباط), known in English as Lions Gate, is the Ottoman gateway through Jerusalem’s eastern wall nearest the northeastern side of Masjid…
Bab al-Asbat (باب الأسباط), known in English as Lions Gate, is the Ottoman gateway through Jerusalem’s eastern wall nearest the northeastern side of Masjid al-Aqsa. The present gate was built in 945 AH (1538–39) during Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent’s reconstruction of Jerusalem’s walls. Local builders worked alongside craftsmen from Aleppo, and an Ottoman inscription records the sultan’s patronage. The original entrance turned sharply inside as a defensive measure; its western wall was removed during the British Mandate to create a direct passage. The lions of Sultan al-Zahir Baybars Four carved animals flank the pointed entrance arch. They represent the emblem of the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Baybars, who ruled Egypt and al-Sham in the seventh century AH, and gave rise to the English name Lions Gate. Bab al-Asbat means “Gate of the Tribes,” recalling the twelve sons of Nabi Yaqub (AS). Jerusalemites have also called it Bab Sayyidah Maryam. Two gates bearing the same name Bab al-Asbat is the name of two neighbouring gates: this city-wall entrance and a second gate in the northern wall of Masjid al-Aqsa. The road from the Ottoman gate enters Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter, while the nearby Al-Aqsa gate opens into the mosque’s courtyards beside the northeastern corner of the sacred enclosure.