Wikipedia's first sentence called it “only one of the old city gates positioned at a right angle to the wall”. Today it says “one of the seven main open gates of the old city of jerusalem”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Gate in Jerusalem's Old City walls Old City Gates”. It now reads “Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem Old City Gates”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Jaffa Gate ( Hebrew : שער יפו , romanized : Sha'ar Yafo ; Arabic : باب الخليل , romanized : Bāb al-Khalīl , "Hebron Gate") is one of the seven main open gates of the Old City of Jerusalem . The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman gate from 1538, and for the wide gap in the city wall adjacent to it to the south. The old gate has the layout of a medieval gate tower with an L-shaped entryway, which was secured at both ends (north and east) with heavy doors. The breach in the wall was created in 1898 by the Ottoman authorities in order to allow German emperor Wilhelm II to enter the city triumphally . The breach and the ramp leading to it now allow cars to access the Old City from the west. The L-shape of the historical gateway was a classical defensive measure designed to slow oncoming attackers, with its outer gate oriented in the direction of Jaffa Road , from which travellers including pilgrims arrived at the end of their journey from the port of Jaffa .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1291291665.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Jaffa Gate Jaffa Gate ( , Sha'ar Yafo ; , Bab el-Khalil , "Gate of the Friend"; also Arabic , Bab Mihrab Daud , "Gate of the Prayer Niche of David"; also David's Gate ) is a stone portal in the historic walls of the Old City of Jerusalem . It is one of eight gates in Jerusalem's Old City walls . Jaffa Gate is the only one of the Old City gates positioned at a right angle to the wall. This could have been done as a defensive measure to slow down oncoming attackers, or to orient it in the direction of Jaffa Road , from which pilgrims arrived at the end of their journey from the port of Jaffa .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 368053823.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Jaffa Gate ( , Sha'ar Yafo ; , Bab el-Khalil , "Hebron Gate"; also Arabic , Bab Mihrab Daud , "Gate of the Prayer Niche of David"; also David's Gate ) is a stone portal in the historic walls of the Old City of Jerusalem . It is one of eight gates in Jerusalem's Old City walls . Jaffa Gate is the only one of the Old City gates positioned at a right angle to the wall. This could have been done as a defensive measure to slow down oncoming attackers, or to orient it in the direction of Jaffa Road , from which pilgrims arrived at the end of their journey from the port of Jaffa .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 648991027.
The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Gate in Jerusalem's Old City walls Old City Gates Jaffa Gate ( , Sha'ar Yafo ; , Bab al-Khalil , "Hebron Gate") is one of the seven main open Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem .The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman gate from 1538, and for the wide gap in the city wall adjacent to it to the south.The old gate has the shape of a medieval gate tower with an L-shaped entryway, which was secured at both ends (north and east) with heavy doors.The breach in the wall was created in 1898 by the Ottoman authorities in order to allow German emperor Wilhelm II to enter the city triumphally.The breach and the ramp leading up to it are now allowing cars to access the Old City from the west.The L shape of the historical gateway was a classical defensive measure designed to slow down oncoming attackers, with its outer gate oriented in the direction of Jaffa Road , from which travellers including pilgrims arrived at the end of their journey from the port of Jaffa .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964427587.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem Old City Gates Jaffa Gate ( ; , "Hebron Gate") is one of the seven main open gates of the Old City of Jerusalem . The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman gate from 1538, and for the wide gap in the city wall adjacent to it to the south. The old gate has the shape of a medieval gate tower with an L-shaped entryway, which was secured at both ends (north and east) with heavy doors. The breach in the wall was created in 1898 by the Ottoman authorities in order to allow German emperor Wilhelm II to enter the city triumphally . The breach and the ramp leading up to it now allow cars to access the Old City from the west. The L-shape of the historical gateway was a classical defensive measure designed to slow down oncoming attackers, with its outer gate oriented in the direction of Jaffa Road , from which travellers including pilgrims arrived at the end of their journey from the port of Jaffa .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175124986.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “only one of the old city gates positioned at a right angle to the wall”. Today it says “one of the seven main open gates of the old city of jerusalem”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Gate in Jerusalem's Old City walls Old City Gates”. It now reads “Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem Old City Gates”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
only one of the old city gates positioned at a right angle to the wall
Now
one of the seven main open gates of the old city of jerusalem
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
