Last updated on .
The Cardo Maximus was the main north-south road in ancient Jerusalem. It’s located in the Jewish Quarter of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Old City.
History
The Cardo was a colonnaded road originally 22 ½ meters wide. It ran the entire length of the Old City, with columns placed 5.77 meters apart. There was an open-air section in the middle allowing traffic of carriages and animals. That section was flanked by covered pedestrian walkways.
The northern section of the road was built by Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 130s and connected the Damascus Gate to a spot near today’s David Street, running past the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The southern section was built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, extending the road to the Zion Gate.
Southern End
The remains of about 180 meters of the Byzantine Cardo were discovered in the Jewish Quarter in 1969. They’re visible from the west side of Hurva Square, where there’s an open-air section at the southern end of the road. A stairway leads down to a row of columns topped with Corinthian capitals.
A gate on the north side of the open area leads to a covered section containing another row of columns, some broken. There’s also an image depicting what the Cardo would have looked like during ancient times.
Crusader Market
From there, the Cardo is covered and runs north to David Street. The covered section is a Crusader market built atop part of the Byzantine section of the street in the 12th century. The vaulted ceilings of the market later became cellars for the buildings above. The market was restored after the excavations were complete.
Shops, mostly art galleries, line both sides of the Crusader market. There’s also an occasional section displaying ruins.
Every once in a while, there are shafts with openings you can look down into. They reveal even more ancient blocks further beneath the ground.
