Charles Warren

Charles Warren (1840-1927)

This model of the Temple Mount is in what we call the Western Wall Tunnel. We walk from this model down to the sidewalk and then follow it northward at the Herodian sidewalk level. (Click on photo to enlarge it)

Going down Warren' Shaft we come to Hezekiah's Tunnel. Before the advance of the Assyrian army into Judea, Hezekiah diverted the Gihon River, bringing the water inside the city walls for protection. Warren found this and other tunnels under the ancient city. (Click on photo to enlarge it)

Charles Warren lived in a time when British colonial power stretched across the hemispheres. He was a British officer, an adventurer, an archaeologist—an Indiana Jones of his day.

He is noted for many archaeological discoveries in the city of Jerusalem. How did he get there? When did it begin?

In 1865, Baroness Angela Burdett Coutts, visited Jerusalem. When her guide drew up a bucket of stinking water from a local cistern, she wondered if Jesus would have drunk such smelly water? Would David?

Upon her return to England, she donated 500 pounds sterling to help establish the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). She even convinced her friend and neighbor, Vicky, to be a sponsor of the new organization. Vicky is none other than Queen Victoria!

The goal of the PEF was to promote research into the archaeology, history, manners and customs, culture, topography, geology, and natural sciences of biblical Palestine. Warren’s exploration in Jerusalem lasted only three years. Yet his discoveries at the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the City of David, and the Gihon Springs have been invaluable to archaeologists, historians, theologians, and Holy Land pilgrims ever since.

In fact, one of his early discoveries still bears his name today, The Warren Shaft. It was an underground shaft, partially man-made, leading from within the city to the Gihon Spring, which served as Jerusalem’s water source from the Canaanite times to present day.

He also discovered part of the network of tunnels beneath the Western Wall. That discovery revealed the true size of the Herod’s retaining wall, which could be appreciated for the first time. (The now exposed Western Wall is only a fragment of Herod the Great’s monumental structure.)

We are now about 150 years from those discoveries. Since then, there are literally hundreds of similar sites of antiquities competing for attention. However, Warren’s Shaft and the Western Wall Tunnels remain two of the most popular attractions for visitors to the Old City.