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Opening in the Foundation Stone at The Dome Of The Rock

Israel Israel Show cave

Well of Souls

17 °C inside, all year.

Show caveStalactites

See the descentHow to visit

Eassa · CC BY-SA 3.0

The descent

The entrance, at 746 m.

The real relief above Well of Souls, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.

depth not publishedEntrance822 m1.0 kmvertical × 8.9depth not publishedEntrance822 m1.0 kmvertical × 19.2

The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.

746m

Entrance altitude

from the 30 m relief model

17°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

69m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

17 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 17 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 30 °C at the entrance, 13 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to September.

outside, at the entrance (746 m)inside
  1. 13°4°Jan
  2. 14°4°Feb
  3. 17°6°Mar
  4. 21°8°Apr
  5. 25°12°May
  6. 28°15°Jun
  7. 30°17°Jul
  8. 30°18°Aug
  9. 28°17°Sep
  10. 25°14°Oct
  11. 20°10°Nov
  12. 15°6°Dec
Inside: 17 °C all yearEscape the heat: Jun–SepWettest: Nov–Feb

Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.

Cave in the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, underneath the Foundation stone

Well of Souls is a show cave in Israel. The entrance is at 746 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there.

  • Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.Official site
  • Old Citynearest town · 0.2 km in a straight line
  • Parking 360 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
  • Western Wall Observation Pointnearest viewpoint · 0.3 km from the entrance
  • Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 42 km in a straight lineCar hire at TLV airport (Tel Aviv)Discover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above.

The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.

The ground above Well of Souls (Sentinel-2) N 1.5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the entrance.

  • 7other cave entrances within 3 kmסן סימון, מערת אבה, מערת קבורה and 4 more
  • 1springs within 2 kmבית המעיין (מעיין הגיחון)
  • 40viewpoints within 3 kmWestern Wall Observation Point, תצפית יהודאי, מצפור תומר and 37 more
  • 4marked hiking routes within 3 kmVia Crucis, שביל גולני, Jerusalem Trail and 1 more
  • 2climbing crags within 3 kmThe Block, טיפוס צוקים בגיא בן הינום
  • 173car parks within 2 km
  • 31information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
  • 326bus stops within 2 km
  • 1campsites within 8 km
  • 211hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmמלון מגדל ירושלים, Leonardo Jerusalem, المدرسة الابراهيمية الاساسية and 208 more
  • 310restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • sinkholes within 3 km
  • caving clubs and spots within 15 km
  • named waterfalls within 4 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

  • Old City0.2 km in a straight line
  • East Jerusalem0.6 km in a straight line
  • Giv`at H̱ananya1.3 km in a straight line
  • Wadi al-Joz1.3 km in a straight line
  • West Jerusalem1.5 km in a straight line
  • Jerusalem2.0 km in a straight line
  • Nayot2.2 km in a straight line
  • Abū Dīs3.1 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Well of Souls.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Month by month

The weather outside, at the entrance.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon131417212528303028252015
Afternoon131417212528303028252015
Night4468121517181714106
Rain (mm)8862372151102144683
Rainy days1096310000369
Sun hours/day5.46.18.19.411.313.012.811.810.58.56.95.6
AfternoonAfternoonNightRain (mm)Sun hours/day
Jan13134885.4
Feb14144626.1
Mar17176378.1
Apr21218219.4
May252512511.3
Jun282815113.0
Jul303017112.8
Aug303018011.8
Sep282817210.5
Oct252514148.5
Nov202010466.9
Dec15156835.6

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (746 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Well of Souls
Lazhar Neftien from Toulouse, France · CC BY 2.0
Entrance to Well of Souls, Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem 2018)
Virtutepetens · CC BY-SA 4.0
Jérusalem - Dôme du Rocher - dévotion
PRA · CC BY 3.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020288%105%292%480%148%————20%323%71%
2021111%194%70%49%50%————26%64%317%
2022265%144%315%3%12%————42%132%81%
202346%252%144%452%80%————40%166%85%
2024425%140%56%64%80%————0%41%110%
202520%100%94%35%38%————6%68%164%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Well of Souls

Israel

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 746 mEntrance altitude
  • 17 °CInside, all year

Avshalom Cave

Israel · 20 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 429 mEntrance altitude
  • 19 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Ha-Teomim cave

Israel · 21 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 414 mEntrance altitude
  • 19 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Ayalon Cave

Israel · 33 km

  • —Depth
  • 2.5 kmGalleries
  • 52 mEntrance altitude
  • 21 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitorsWikidata (Q7714247) · CC0
The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearbyCoastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit
cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit
forestsForestyaEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit