Most of the tunnel is in continuation of the open-air Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

In 19 BCE, King Herod undertook a project to double the area of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem by incorporating part of the hill on the Northwest.

[5] After the Six-Day War, the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel began the excavations aimed at exposing the continuation of the Western Wall.

The excavations lasted almost twenty years and revealed many previously unknown facts about the history and geography of the Temple Mount.

The excavations were difficult to conduct, as the tunnels ran below residential neighborhoods constructed on top of ancient structures from the Second Temple Period.

[7] The tunnel exposes 300 m of the wall's total 445 m, revealing the construction methods and the various activities in the vicinity of the Temple Mount.

This sealed-off entrance was for hundreds of years a small synagogue called "The Cave", where the early Muslims allowed the Jews to pray in close proximity to the ruins of the Temple.

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation (WWHF) website indicates, as of March 2020, an estimated weight of "several hundred tons".

In the restored rooms, the Western Wall Foundation has created the Chain of Generations Center, a Jewish history museum designed by Eliav Nahlieli that includes an audiovisual show and nine glass sculptures created by glass artist Jeremy Langford.

[dubious – discuss] In 2007, the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered an ancient Roman street thought to be from the second to fourth centuries.

[9] Excavations at the site continued as late as 2014, led by archaeologists Peter Gendelman and Ortal Chalaf on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

The course takes a linear route starting at the Western Wall Plaza and passes through the modern tunnels and the ancient water system, ending at the Struthion Pool.

A connection to the Hasmonean water system was made, but this still required them to make a U-turn once they had reached the Struthion Pool.