They are the same wall. The Western Wall and the Wailing Wall refer to the same limestone remnant of the Second Temple compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. The difference is not architectural but linguistic and emotional: “Western Wall” is the neutral geographic name; “Wailing Wall” carries centuries of Jewish grief, diaspora longing, and the sound of prayers spoken into stone.
Definition
The Western Wall (Hebrew: HaKotel HaMa’aravi) is the surviving retaining wall of the Temple Mount, built by Herod the Great around 19 BCE. The Wailing Wall (Arabic: Al-Mabka, “the place of weeping”) is the same wall, named by European Christian travelers in the 19th century who observed Jews mourning the destruction of the First and Second Temples there. The wall itself has not changed. The name reflects the observer.
Where the Two Names Come From
The wall was never called the “Wailing Wall” by the people who prayed at it. The name came from outside.
The earliest recorded use of “Wailing Wall” in English appears in Charles William Wilson’s Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem (1865). Wilson, a British army officer mapping the Holy Land, noted that Jews gathered at the wall on Fridays and holy days to weep and recite the Book of Lamentations. He called it the “Wailing Place of the Jews.” The phrase stuck in European travel writing.
Earlier Christian pilgrims had used similar language. The French monk Felix Fabri wrote in 1483 of seeing Jews “weeping and wailing” at the wall. The 16th-century German traveler Salomon Schweigger described the “Jews’ place of lamentation.” By the time the British controlled Palestine (1917–1948), “Wailing Wall” was the standard English term on maps and in guidebooks.
Jews themselves called it simply HaKotel (the Wall) or HaKotel HaMa’aravi (the Western Wall). The Hebrew name refers to its position on the western side of the Temple Mount, not to any emotional practice. In rabbinic literature, the wall is sometimes called the Kotel HaMikdash (the Wall of the Temple) or the Kotel HaDin (the Wall of Judgment), referencing a tradition that the divine presence never leaves the wall.
The Arabic name Al-Mabka (the place of weeping) mirrors the Christian European term. Local Muslims also used Ha’it al-Buraq (the Buraq Wall), identifying it as the spot where the Prophet Muhammad tethered his winged steed Buraq during the Night Journey (Isra and Mi’raj). That name survives in the alley that runs alongside the wall: Buraq Lane.
So the wall has three names for three communities. The Western Wall (geography). The Wailing Wall (Christian European observation). The Buraq Wall (Islamic tradition). All point to the same stones.
What the Wall Actually Is
The wall visible today is not part of any temple. It is a retaining wall. Herod the Great expanded the Temple Mount platform in the 1st century BCE, doubling its size by building massive retaining walls filled with rubble. The Western Wall is the western face of that artificial platform.
The stones are enormous. The largest visible course weighs roughly 500 tons. They are cut with a distinctive flat border and raised center face, a Herodian masonry style that appears nowhere else in Jerusalem. No mortar holds them. They rest on their own weight and the precision of their fit.
Only a small section of the wall is exposed. The full western retaining wall runs about 1,600 feet. The prayer plaza at the base covers roughly 200 feet of that length. The rest remains buried under centuries of debris and the buildings of the Muslim Quarter.
The wall survived the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE because it was not part of the Temple itself. The Romans systematically dismantled the Temple buildings but left the retaining walls standing. They were too massive to tear down and served no religious function that needed erasing.
Why the Names Matter
The difference between “Western Wall” and “Wailing Wall” is not academic. It carries political and religious weight.
For Jews, “Wailing Wall” implies that Jewish connection to the wall is only about grief. It frames Judaism as a religion of mourning, frozen in the past, weeping over what was lost. The name erases the living tradition of prayer, celebration, and community that has happened at the wall continuously since at least the 16th century.
The earliest documented Jewish prayer at the wall comes from the 4th century CE. The Bordeaux Pilgrim, an anonymous Christian traveler, recorded in 333 CE that Jews came to the Temple Mount “every year” to mourn the destruction. By the 16th century, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent formally recognized Jewish prayer rights at the wall. Rabbi Moses ben Israel, writing in 1522, described Jews gathering there on Tisha B’Av, the fast day commemorating the Temple’s destruction.
By the 19th century, the wall was a regular site of Jewish prayer, not just mourning. Jews went daily, not only on fast days. They inserted written prayers into the cracks, a practice that continues today. The wall was a place of petition, gratitude, and connection, not only lament.
So “Wailing Wall” reduces a living tradition to a single emotion. It is the name an outsider gives to a practice they do not fully understand.
For Muslims, the name “Buraq Wall” asserts an Islamic claim to the site. The wall is part of the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), the third holiest site in Islam. The name ties the wall directly to the Prophet’s journey, not to Jewish Temple history.
For Christians, “Wailing Wall” carries a theological undertone. Some Protestant traditions read the wall as evidence that God has abandoned the Jews and the Temple will never be rebuilt. Calling it the “Wailing Wall” reinforces that narrative: the Jews are still weeping because they have not accepted Christ.
The Israeli government officially uses “Western Wall” in English. The Hebrew name HaKotel HaMa’aravi is the standard in Israeli media, signage, and official documents. “Wailing Wall” is increasingly seen as archaic or derogatory, though it persists in older literature and casual speech.
What People Get Wrong
Myth: The wall is the last remnant of the Temple itself. The wall is not part of any Temple building. It is a retaining wall for the platform on which the Temple stood. The actual Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. The wall survived because it was infrastructure, not sanctuary.
Myth: The wall has always been the holiest Jewish site. The wall became the holiest accessible site only after Jews were barred from the Temple Mount itself. Under Muslim rule after 638 CE, Jews were generally not allowed on the Mount. The wall was the closest they could get. Its holiness grew in proportion to its inaccessibility.
Myth: The wailing is a continuous tradition from 70 CE. The practice of praying at the wall appears in 4th-century sources, but there is no evidence of continuous daily prayer from 70 CE to the present. The wall was buried under debris for centuries. The prayer plaza as it exists today was excavated only after the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel demolished the Mughrabi Quarter to create the open space.
Myth: “Wailing Wall” is the traditional Jewish name. It is not. The traditional Jewish name is HaKotel or HaKotel HaMa’aravi. “Wailing Wall” is a European Christian term that entered English in the 19th century.
How the Wall Is Used Today
The Western Wall functions as an open-air synagogue. It is divided into a large men’s section and a smaller women’s section, separated by a partition (mechitza). This follows Orthodox Jewish practice, which governs the site under Israeli law.
Prayer happens continuously. The wall is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Bar and bat mitzvahs are held there. Soldiers pray before deployment. Tourists insert written prayers into the cracks. On Tisha B’Av, the plaza fills with people sitting on the ground, reading Lamentations by candlelight.
The wall is also a political flashpoint. The Women of the Wall, a group advocating for women’s right to pray aloud and wear prayer shawls at the wall, has faced arrests and protests since its founding in 1988. The dispute is about who controls the wall and what kind of Judaism it represents.
A separate area called Robinson’s Arch, at the southern end of the wall, was designated in 2003 as a non-Orthodox prayer space. It is less crowded, less regulated, and less visited.
FAQ
Is the Western Wall the same as the Wailing Wall? Yes. They are the same structure. “Western Wall” is the geographic name. “Wailing Wall” is a historical English term based on the practice of mourning there.
Why is it called the Wailing Wall? European Christian travelers in the 19th century saw Jews weeping and reciting Lamentations at the wall on Fridays and called it the “Wailing Place.” The name entered English through travel writing and maps.
Can you still wail at the Wailing Wall? Yes, but most people pray quietly or silently. The weeping is most visible on Tisha B’Av, the fast day mourning the Temple’s destruction.
What is the Buraq Wall? The Buraq Wall is the Islamic name for the same wall. Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad tethered his steed Buraq there during the Night Journey.
Closing
The Western Wall and the Wailing Wall are the same limestone, the same joints, the same 500-ton blocks. The difference is in who speaks and what they name. For deeper context on how sacred sites carry multiple names and meanings across traditions, see our guide to sacred sites. For the symbolism of stone in ritual practice, visit the glossary entry on sacred stone. And for the history of Temple Mount traditions across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, read Temple Mount traditions.