Close call as 100kg boulder falls from Jerusalem's Western Wall

Authorities said it was a "miracle" a worshipper wasn't hit by the falling block.

Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz (R) with Chief Rabbi David Lau (C) inspect the site where a massive ancient stone collapse from the Western Wall. Source: AAP

Jerusalem authorities restricted access to one of Judaism's holiest sites on Monday after a massive stone block from the Western Wall fell to the ground below, narrowly missing a worshipper.

"The stone, weighing 100kg, fell close to a woman who was praying... without hitting her," Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement.

He said the fact that nobody was harmed in the incident was "a great miracle".

Barkat visited the scene with Jerusalem's city engineer and safety officials, who declared the spot dangerous and closed it to the public pending further inspection.

A view of the ancient boulder stone that dislodged and fell from the southern prayer area of the Western Wall. Source: AAP

Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said he could not explain the incident but the fact it happened a day after a major gathering at the Western Wall called for "soul-searching".

Jerusalem resident Daniella Goldberg, 79-years-old, was standing at the site when the stone fell.

"At 5:46, at this minute, I see a huge stone. I didn't hear or feel anything until it landed right at my feet, and there was a big hole in the floor as you can see, in the deck, the boards of the stairs were even broken. I didn't understand where it fell from. I looked high up, it's all intact up there," she told Reuters.

Daniella Goldberg from Jerusalem. Source: Reuters

On Sunday, tens of thousands of Jewish worshippers thronged the main, gender-segregated Western Wall esplanade for annual prayers mourning the razing of the Jews' biblical-era temples.

Monday's incident struck a less-visited part of the wall, where men and women are permitted to pray together contrary to Orthodox Jewish practise.

Rabinowitz noted that the stones above the main prayer section of the Western Wall are examined by professionals twice a year.

The Western Wall, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, is the holiest place at which Jews are allowed to pray.

A view on the site where a massive ancient boulder stone dislodged and fell from the southern prayer area of the Western Wall. Source: AAP

They believe it is what remains of a supporting wall of their biblical second temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Immediately above it is the flashpoint shrine known to Jews as the Temple Mount, the holiest in Judaism, revered as the spot where the two biblical Jewish temples once stood.

To Muslims it is the Haram al-Sharif compound, the third-holiest in Islam after Mecca and Medina, and home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.