The Little Western Wall, also known as HaKotel HaKatan and the Small Kotel, , is a Jewish religious site located in the Muslim Quarter

Muslim Quarter

The Muslim Quarter is one of the four quarters of the ancient, walled Old City of Jerusalem. It covers 31 hectares of the northeastern sector of the Old City. The quarter is the largest and most populous and extends from the Lions' Gate in the east, along the northern wall of the Temple Mount in...

 of the Old City of Jerusalem near the Iron Gate to the Temple Mount

Temple Mount

The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...

. The wall itself dates from the Second Temple

Second Temple

The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...

 period, (516 BCE – 70

70

Year 70 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Vespasianus...

 CE

Common Era

Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

). It is the continuation of the Larger part of the Kotel

Western Wall

The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount...

 and almost exactly faces the Holy of Holies. HaKotel HaKatan is not as well-known and not as crowded as the larger part of the Western Wall.

Dimensions

Unlike the more famous Western Wall

Western Wall

The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount...

, the Kotel Katan does not have a large plaza facing it. It is a narrow alley and only the two lowest level of bricks date from the Second Temple period. Unlike those on the Western Wall, the bricks have not been worn smooth by the touch of millions of worshippers. The Kotel Katan resembles the Western Wall as it appeared before the Six Day War. After it was recaptured by Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, the Western Wall plaza was expanded to its current size.

Modern history

Because the Kotel Katan is much closer to the site of the possible location of the Holy of Holies

Holy of Holies

The Holy of Holies is a term in the Hebrew Bible which refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was kept during the First Temple, which could be entered only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur...

than the larger Western Wall, it has significance to Jews, who wish to continue to pray at the site. For local Muslim residents, the alley is known as Rabat El Kurd, and is used as a passage to gain access to their homes, which surround the Kotel Katan.