Archeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed a Second Temple-era Roman theater underneath the Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

At a press conference Monday morning at the site, Jerusalem District Archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority Dr. Yuval Baruch said the theater is the public building that scholars have been seeking since archeological research began in Jerusalem over 150 years ago.

“The new finding prove the importance Jerusalem had as Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina. Descriptions of theater-like structures are found in written sources like Josephus Flavius, many theories were advanced about the location of these complexes. This is the first one we’ve found in Jerusalem,” Baruch said.

During a decade-long project to expand public facilities at the Western Wall Plaza, Jerusalem’s largest tourist attraction, workers drilled  eight columns from the floor of the plaza down to enable workers to dig in an urban environment. The original goal of the archeological dig was to date the so-called Wilson Arch, the gateway at the northern reach of the Plaza that frames the entrance to the popular Western Wall Tunnels exhibition.

According to Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Dr. Joe Uziel the discovery was a surprise. “When we started excavating we never imagined we would find such a discovery. It is a relatively small structure, for about 200 persons, that was located under the arch and probably used for council’s meetings. Another possibility is that it was used as odean, a small theater used for live performances.”

Archeologists on site said they believe the theater was never really used, and possibly abandoned. They said the reasons for this are unknown but the signs confirming this thesis are the stairs at the entrance that was never finished. Uziel said the construction of the theater was probably abandoned  when the Bar Kokhba Revolt started (132-135 CE).

The excavations, which were conducted with the cooperation of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, the body responsible for administering the Western Wall. Mordechai (Suli) Eliav, Director of the  Foundation believes the theater is one of the most important findings in the area. “This discovery joins many other findings that have been uncovered in the area of the Western Wall Plaza, which together create a living historical mosaic of Jerusalem and the Western Wall, for which generations longed for so powerfully. The findings symbolize the guests from past empires that were here over the years, as opposed to the Jewish people, who held fast to this place some 3,000 years ago and have been here ever since,” Eliav said.

The formal discoveries will be presented to the public during a conference titled New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Environs, which will take place at the Hebrew University to mark 50 years since the unification of the city.