Beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a subterranean structure, known as 'Solomon's Stables'. 'Solomon's Stables' is the name given by the Crusaders to this structure, which extends from the eastern Hulda gate up to the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount. It is a hipostyle building, whose ceiling was supported by 94 piers, some of which were engaged. The twelve rows of piers, aligned north-south, held arches which supported vaults oriented east-west. At the base of each vault, about two courses above the arches, is a row of square holes in which the wooden beams of the ceiling were inserted. A similar system of hipostyle halls can be found at the western part of the Temple Mount. The piers of the building are built of large stones, some of them are re-used Herodian blocks. These stones were probably gathered from the debris of the Herodian Temple Mount enclosure. The halls are 9 m high and their floor is c. 13 m beneath the pavement of the Temple Mount. The structure's walls in the east and the south lean against the Temple Mount walls, and its western wall leans on the subterranean passage of the eastern Hulda gate; its northern section is destroyed and therefore its overall plan is unknown - it is possible that the structure was open to the north. An opening connects the eastern Hulda gate and the 'stables'.

In the southeastern corner of the structure is a small Mosque, known as the Cradle of Jesus. It is mentioned by Ibn `Abd Rabbih under the name of mihrab of Mary, the daughter of Amran. It seems that 'Solomon's Stables', as they stand today, reflect the Umayyad's reconstruction, although a Fatimid inscription from the days of Al-Dhar (1034) states that the building was restored following the earthquake of 1033. The Fatimid's restoration works included also the construction of the Single gate in the southern wall of the Temple Mount enclosure.

The earliest sources describing 'Solomon's Stables' are from the Crusader period. During this time the Al-Aqsa Mosque served as the center of the Templars, who used the subterranean vaults as stables. The mentioning of the Cradle of Jesusby Nasir-I-Khusrau (eleventh century) points to the fact that the structure was erected prior to the Crusader period.