About Cardo Maximus

“Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” Zechariah 8:4-5.

The cities of the ancient Roman Empire had a special practice of decorating main roads with impressive stone columns. These streets were called “Cardo” and Jerusalem, just like any other Roman city, had a Cardo of its own.

Jerusalem Cardo

The Jerusalem Cardo is clearly pictured on the famous Madaba Map, the earliest graphic representation of Jerusalem. The Cardo is depicted with two rows of colonnades running the length of the city from north to south.

History of the Cardo

In the 2^nd century, the Roman Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina and added the Cardo in the north of the city at Damascus Gate. In the 6^th century, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I extended the Cardo further south to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Zion Gate. The Cardo had a central lane, open to the sky, for the passage of carriages and animals. The entire roadway was flanked with colonnades, covered walkways and a shaded arcade. In the 12^th century, the Crusaders built a bazaar along part of the road.

Southern Part of the Excavated Cardo

The exposed section of the Cardo, a 200m stretch and 4m below the present-day street level, reveals the Byzantine Cardo level. Excavations reveal beautiful columns, ornate capitals and large flagstones that paved the street. Part of the Cardo has been restored to show how the stalls and shops would have been in the ancient times. The shopping section of the Cardo is beneath a beautifully vaulted ceiling and modern stores are housed in the ancient Crusader shops that line the Cardo.