page_title: Tombs of the Kings (Jerusalem)
section_title: Discovery and exploration
hierarchical_section_title: Tombs of the Kings (Jerusalem) / History / Discovery and exploration
caption_attribution_description: English: Plan of the town and environs of Jerusalem From the original drawing of the survey made in the month of March 1841 by Lieutts. Aldrich and John Frederick Anthony Symonds The writings added by the Revd. Garth Williams and the Revd. Robert Willis. Engraved by Joseph Wilson Lowry Copied by Permission of Field Marshal the Marquis of Anglesey, K.G. G.C.H. Master General of the Ordnance, from the original drawing of the survey made in the month of March 1841 1849 (dated) 28 x 29 in (71.12 x 73.66 cm) 1&#160;: 4800
context_page_description: The Tombs of the Kings are a rock-cut funerary complex in East Jerusalem believed to be the burial site of Queen Helene of Adiabene. The tombs are located 820 meters north of Jerusalem's Old City walls in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood
  The grandeur of the site led to the belief that the tombs had once been the burial place of the kings of Judah, hence the name Tombs of the Kings; but the tombs are now associated with Queen Helena of Adiabene. According to this theory, Queen Helena chose the site to bury her son Isates and others of her dynasty.
  The site is located east of the intersection of Nablus Road and Saladin Street. The gate of the property is marked "Tombeau des Rois", French for "Tomb of the Kings."
context_section_description: In 1847, the Turkish governor ordered a search for treasures in the tomb but none were found.
  In 1863, the French archaeologist Felicien de Saulcy was given permission to excavate the tomb. 
  The German architect Conrad Schick drew up a map of the site. De Saulcy found sarcophagi, one of which was bearing the Hebrew inscription "Queen Tzaddah". He believed this was the sarcophagus of the wife of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.
  After human bones were found, the Jewish community appealed to Sir Moses Montefiore to persuade the Ottomans to halt the excavations. De Saulcy smuggled out some of his findings, which are now at the Louvre in Paris.
caption: "Tombs of the Kings" (top center) shown in the 1841 Aldrich and Symonds map of Jerusalem
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