The Well of Souls

The Well of Souls (Arabic: بئر الأرواح, romanized: Biʾr al-Arwaḥ; sometimes translated Pit of Souls, Cave of Spirits, or Well of Spirits)

a partly natural, partly man-made cave located inside the Foundation Stone ("Noble Rock" in Islam) under the Dome of the Rock shrine on the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) in Jerusalem.[1] During the Crusader period, it was known to Christians as the "Holy of Holies",[2] referring to the inner sanctum of the former Jewish Temple, which, according to modern scholarship, was probably located on top of the Foundation Stone.[2]

The name "Well of Souls" derives from a medieval Islamic legend that at this place the spirits of the dead can be heard awaiting Judgment Day

"The Cave Under the Great Rock on Mount Moriah" known as the Well of Souls (Illustration from Charles William Wilson's Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, 1883)

The Well of Souls is located under the Foundation Stone, an exposed bedrock which lies directly under the Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock stands on the location of the destroyed Second Jewish Temple (built around 516 BCE to replace Solomon's Temple), which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. In traditional Jewish sources, the Foundation Stone is considered the place from which the creation of the world began,[4] and where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.

"The Cave beneath the Holy Rock, Jerusalem". Watercolor over pencil on paper, Carl Haag, 1859

The Foundation Stone and its cave entered fully into the Christian tradition after the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099. These Europeans converted the Dome of the Rock into a church, calling it in Latin: Templum Domini (the 'Temple of the Lord'). They made many radical physical changes to the site at this time, including cutting away much of the rock to make staircases and paving the Stone over with marble slabs. The main entrance of the cave was enlarged, and Europeans of the Crusades are probably also responsible for creating the shaft ascending from the center of the chamber. The Crusaders called the cave the "Holy of Holies" and venerated it as the site of the archangel's announcement [a] of John the Baptist's birth.[2] Modern scholarship indicates that the Holy of Holies of the Jewish Temple was probably on top of the Foundation Stone, not inside it.[2]: 101–103