Date

Circa 1910

The vault is plastered and accommodates an extraordinary stone cenotaph...There are two cylindrical stone finials on the top of the southern and the northern ends of the cenotaph, and it is all covered by a green pall in the customary way. Auld & Hillenbrand, "Ottoman Jerusalem" Kursai Kursi Sulaiman (Solomon's Throne) stands against the east wall of the Haram just to the north of the Golden Gate and is a rectangular structure with two narrow domes. References are made to the Throne of Solomon from the 10th century, but the building appears to date to ca. 1600 or later. It seems to be the same as that described by the Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi in 1648-1650. It is just possible that it was built by Sulaiman the Magnificent as part of his building program in Jerusalem. Alternatively the structure may have been rebuilt to the same pattern in the 19th century, for various late 19th century writers refer to it as a modern building. It contains a venerated cenotaph visited by Muslims at the Feast of Bairam. It is possible also that preserves the tradition of Solomon's portico, which lay on the east side of the Temple and is referred to by Josephus (Antiq. XX:219-222).