The 2015 custodial guide and a UNESCO-hosted institutional dossier both describe the enclosed Al-Aqsa compound as approximately 144 dunums, or 144,000 square metres (about 14.4 hectares). This approximate figure concerns the sanctuary, not the floor area of Al-Qibli Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. The compound lies in the southeastern corner of the Old City of Al-Quds.[1][2]
In this guide
What the area includes
The quoted approximate figure includes open ground as well as covered buildings. Converting it to hectares is useful for understanding scale, but does not turn an institutional description into a survey performed by this project. The number should travel with its definition: an article that places “144,000 square metres” beside a photograph of Al-Qibli alone can accidentally make a claim about the wrong object.[3][2]
Why other figures need context
The Aga Khan restoration project record lists a size of 140,000 square metres. It describes a conservation project encompassing the Haram area, rather than publishing a boundary survey. We retain the custodial guide’s compound figure with attribution and do not average the two numbers. A project extent, a rounded site area and a measured building footprint are not automatically interchangeable quantities.[4][3]
More than one ground level
The guide organizes the site into levels: underground infrastructure; subterranean spaces including the Marwani prayer hall and Ancient Aqsa corridors; the main courtyards and southern mosque; and the raised platform of the Dome of the Rock. This is an explanatory description of the site, not a promise that visitors can enter every level. A surface diagram necessarily leaves much of that vertical arrangement out.[1]
The edges are part of the architecture
The western side connects the sanctuary with gateways, arcades, schools and the commercial fabric of the Old City. The Cotton Merchants’ Gate is a particularly clear example of a gate linked to a market. Looking only at buildings isolated in the center misses these relationships. Boundaries can be built, inhabited and architecturally elaborate as well as lines on a plan.[5][6]
How to use the Explore diagram
Use Explore to associate names with places and open their photographs. Its points are illustrative and neighboring points are grouped for readability; it does not provide surveyed coordinates, true distances or walking routes. The level filter distinguishes lower spaces, and distributed groups remain available in the list. For studying actual geometry, consult a documented architectural plan and its scale.[7]
Sources & references
References are attached to the passages they support. Dates below record source consultation.
- A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (2015)
pp. 4–5
PASSIA · Jerusalem Awqaf · Hashemite Fund · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif
Site overview
UNESCO World Heritage Centre · material submitted by the Permanent Delegation of Jordan · Consulted 2026-09-14
- A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (2015)
p. 4
PASSIA · Jerusalem Awqaf · Hashemite Fund · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Project size and description
Aga Khan Trust for Culture · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Qattanin Market
Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities · Consulted 2026-09-14
- Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya · Yusuf al-Natsheh
Museum With No Frontiers · Discover Islamic Art · Consulted 2026-09-14
- A Guide to Al-Aqsa Mosque / Al-Haram Ash-Sharif (2015)
pp. 66–67, overview and legend
PASSIA · Jerusalem Awqaf · Hashemite Fund · Consulted 2026-09-14