Jewish prayer near the Temple Mount continued under successive rulers, but the place, conditions and regulations changed. Medieval records place Jewish worship at different points along the western side; later sources document prayer in the narrow space now associated with the Western Wall.
Medieval prayer and changing access
Jewish sources record visits and prayer in Jerusalem during medieval centuries. An eleventh-century Cairo Genizah document describes prayer near Warren’s Gate, north of the present prayer plaza. The Jewish Virtual Library’s account of the Wall’s names and prayer history describes medieval prayer practices.
Ottoman Jerusalem
Ottoman rule began in Jerusalem in 1517. Jewish residents and pilgrims prayed at the western retaining wall, in a confined passage beside the Mughrabi Quarter.
Ottoman officials regulated the site and its furnishings. In the late Ottoman period, foreign consular intervention and communal petitions could affect the rules governing prayer. In 1930, an international commission reviewed disputes over benches, screens and other prayer items. The commission materials reproduced by the UN detail the questions that authorities addressed.
British administration
After Britain took control of Jerusalem during the First World War, the Western Wall became the subject of sharper disputes over worship arrangements and ownership. The Mandate authorities maintained detailed rules for the site, and the 1929 violence followed escalating demonstrations and competing claims. Read the focused account of the 1929 Western Wall riots for the sequence of events and inquiry findings.