Do We Have the Beams from Herod's Temple?

ON THE COVER: A beam from the Al-Aqsa
Mosque with Roman-style carvings may have
come from the Royal Stoa on Herod’s Temple
Mount.  Photo by Peretz Reuven.

The restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the 1930s
and 1940s included the removal of dozens of
wooden beams that predate the mosque’s
construction.  These beams may have come from
buildings on Herod’s Temple Mount.
Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority Scientific Archives.

Is it possible we have the actual beams from Herod's temple?  Yes, apparently it is!  What an intriguing mystery.  You can read more at the Biblical Archaeology Society's link, found below. 

"What happened to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed Herod’s Temple in 70 C.E.? There is no report of any building left on the Temple Mount by the time the Muslims erected the iconic Dome of the Rock and the gray-domed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. 

"Did the wooden beams from Herod’s Temple Mount survive? In the May/June 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Peretz Reuven studies beams removed from the Al-Aqsa Mosque to reveal the storied history of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount."

"The Al-Aqsa Mosque has sustained serious earthquake damage over the years due to its construction on dirt-fill from Herod’s first century C.E . Temple Mount expansion. As a result, the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been rebuilt and renovated several times since its original Umayyad construction. During the 1930s and 1940s, large-scale restoration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque involved the removal of dozens of beams from the mosque’s ceiling, arcades and dome. The great beams, some of which are more than 42 feet long, were covered by modern boards for centuries. The wood inside the beams has a longer story to tell..."

Pictures and Quotes are taken from Herod’s Temple Mount Revealed in Al-Aqsa Mosque Restoration at Biblical Archaeology Society.