1945[1]) is a Dutch-born archaeological architect who currently lives and works in Wales, after having spent 22 years (1967–89) in Jerusalem.
Beginning in 1973, Ritmeyer served for 4 years as official architect of the archaeological dig at the Western Wall and Southern Wall of the Temple Mount directed by Benjamin Mazar,[2] and 10 years in the Jewish Quarter Excavations of the Old City of Jerusalem, directed by Nahman Avigad.
In Gershom Gorenberg's words, "[w]hen archeologists speak today of solid scientific research on the Temple's location, they’re most likely to refer to Leen Ritmeyer", referring to his work on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
[3] He presented solid arguments based on archaeological evidence collected over at least a century of research for the location of Solomon's Temple, the emplacement of the Ark of the Covenant on the Foundation Stone,[4] and the location of the platform as extended in the First Temple period, probably during the time of Hezekiah described as a square of 500 cubits in Mishnah Middot 2.1.
[clarification needed] He has demonstrated that one of the steps leading to the Dome of the Rock is actually the top of a remaining stone course of the pre-Herodian Western Wall of the Temple Mount platform.