"This is one of the most beautiful and impressive gates among the gates of the wall, which was built during the times of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent from the 16th century. This is a central gate in the wall and it faces the north, towards Nablus and Damascus. In English it is named Damascus Gate, and in Arabic- “Bab El Amud” (“the gate of the pillar”), probably due to the pillar that stood at the center of the gate’s courtyard during the Roman-Byzantine era, as evident in the Madaba Map, which was discovered in Jordan. Turban-like decorations decorate the gate, and due to its importance, many observations points and guard towers were built there.
During the Roman era, a stone-paved courtyard was built here, and at its center stood the statue of the emperor. Two streets started from this courtyard, leading towards the south. To this day, two main streets split from Damascus Gate, preserving the Roman structure of this area: the right street is the Khan A- Zeit or Beit Habad street, and the left street is El Wad Street- or Hagai. Both are commercial streets that cross the city from north to south.
Excavations conducted in this place after 1967 exposed under the Ottoman gate remnants of the Roman Square, as well as remnants of the Roman Gate. This was a magnificent gate with three arched openings. The central arch was twice as wide and tall than the two arches on both sides of it. The opening on the extreme left survived almost completely and was exposed in the excavations."
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The old Israeli shekel, then known as the shekel was the currency of the State of Israel between 24 February 1980 and 31 December 1985. It was replaced by the Israeli new shekel at a ratio of 1000:1 on 1 January 1986. The old shekel was short-lived due to its hyperinflation. The old shekel was subdivided into 100 new agorot. The shekel sign was Old Sheqel sign.svg although it was more commonly denominated as S or IS.
The Israeli old shekel replaced the Israeli pound, which had been used until 24 February 1980, at the rate of 1 shekel to 10 pounds.
The initial series of banknotes in 1980 were for the denominations of IS 1, 5, 10, and 50 and preserved the appearance of the 10, 50, 100 and 500-pound notes which they replaced. Subsequent issues added the denominations of IS 100, 500, 1000, 5000, and 10000.
Banknote 5 Shekels:
Obverse - Chaim Weizmann, Weizmann Institute of Science in background
Reverse - Damascus Gate
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