Preceded by a walled courtyard to the south, the cruciform church shielding the tomb has been excavated in an underground rock-cut cave entered by a wide descending stair dating from the 12th century.
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In 1920, during work on the foundations, a column was found two meters beneath the floor of the medieval crusader chapel. Fragments of a magnificent mosaic were also found.
Until the Six Day War (in 1967, when Jerusalem was liberated), the Western Wall had no prayer plaza. There was just a narrow alleyway in the Muslim Mughrabi neighborhood - the Al-Buraq Alley, which was 28 meters long and only 3.6 meters wide. After the war and reunification of Jerusalem, the area was expanded. Today it is approximately 57 meters long and can accommodate up to 60,000 people. The Western Wall Plaza officially serves as a synagogue.