Robinson Arch Compound is an archeological garden, a legally-mandated antiquities site, located at the foot of one of the important entrance gates to the Temple Mount and built during the Second Temple period. It extends around the foundations of the gate, the merchants' shops next to them, and the mikvahs, among the most impressive in the world, once intended for pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem during festivals.As of last summer, the plan had been suspended. I don't know what its status is now.
Since news of the intention to prepare a prayer plaza at Robinson’s Arch, the archaeological community has been in a rage, strongly opposing the move. The present petition is the culmination of the archaeologists' struggle that has been going on for years against the platform, established as a wound in the heart of the impressive archaeological site. "Four rounds of chipping away at the site have turned it from a magnificent place to one where the ruins are trampled under plates and iron ... There is no doubt what the end of the site will be after the huge works planned and approved, since in the end - even with the best of intentions - it will be destroyed definitively and completely, and its very exposure will be will be an eternal disgrace," the petition states.
Background here and links.
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