Western Stone

Western Stone, beginning at shoulder level of the guide The Western Stone is a monolithic stone ashlar block forming part of the lower level of the Western Wall in Jerusalem . This largest stone in the Western Wall is visible within the Western Wall Tunnel . It is one of the largest building blocks in the world . The stone's exposed face can be freely measured and is 13.55 metres (44.5 ft) long and 3.3 metres (11 ft) high, but its width, or depth, is hidden within the wall. Jol, from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire , performed GPR measurements to determine the depth of the stone. The conclusion of his team was that its depth ranges from approximately 1.8 to 2.5 metres (5.9 to 8.2 ft). The resulting calculated weight of the stone block is of 250–300 tonnes. Previous estimates of the stone's depth were of 16.5 metres (54 ft), a multiple of the GPR measurement, and led to a calculated total weight of 567 tonnes. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation (WWHF) website still indicates, as of March 2020, an "estimated" depth of between 2–4.6 metres (6.6–15.1 ft), with an estimated weight of "several hundred tons", thus moderating its former claim of an estimated weight of 517 tonnes (570 short tons ); elsewhere similar figures used to be circulated, namely 550 to 600 t. The History Channel, in "Lost Worlds of King Herod", cited a 16.5 m depth and 567 tonnes estimate Dan Bahat : Touching the Stones of our Heritage, Israeli ministry of Religious Affairs, 2002 "The Story of the Kotel: Facts and Figures: The Western Wall Tunnels" .¹