The Wailing Wall, also known as the Western Wall, is a 187-foot-high section of the ancient wall built by Herod the Great as the retaining wall of the Temple Mount complex. The Wailing Wall is on the western side of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Herod the Great constructed the oldest layers of the wall between 20 BC and 19 BC as the second Jewish temple was being remodeled. The wall extends for 1,600 feet, but houses built against it obscure most of its length. Today the exposed portion of the Wailing Wall faces a large plaza in the Jewish Quarter and has been a venue for pilgrimage and prayer for Jews since the 16th century. It should be noted that Jews usually do not use the term Wailing Wall, preferring the term Western Wall or Ha-Kotel (“the Wall”).