The second great Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was originally commissioned in the 6th century BC, and was used as a place of worship for those of the Jewish faith for those many years, but it was not until the time of Herod, around 20 BC, that the temple was expanded greatly and became truly not only a site of great religious significance but also a true wonder of the world. The sheer size of the temple was massive, it has been said that the temple had thirteen gates, probably signifying the twelve tribes of Israel, plus God. The temple was used for both morning as well as evening offerings, as well as for all Jewish holy days. We find that according to biblereasearch.com, Herod the Great commenced the rebuilding of the second Jewish temple to which: "…it took 46 years to complete the main building and another 36 years to finish the entire Temple complex." The temple's creation was attested to also by the great ancient historian Josephus who wrote that: "The outward face of the temple was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and at the first rising of the sun reflected back a very fiery splendor." Further, according to jewishvirtuallibrary.org the "…structure was built of stones weighing up to 400 tons and capable of accommodating up to one million people." Even if we were to admit that these above passages probably suffered from hyperbole there is a compelling amount of historical evidence and religious testimony that the Second Jewish Temple definitely existed and that the edifice was both massive, of great religious significance, and quite impressive.
Today, there is some controversy about even the exact location of the Jewish Temple, to which, for a structure of such size and grandeur, you would think that this would not be an issue, but in 70 AD, the Romans laid a siege upon the Jews in Jerusalem and the temple was ravaged through battering rams, through fire, and destroyed, following through on the prophecy of the Christ who said: "… Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mark 13: 2). Therefore, it follows that the archeological unearthing of the Second Jewish Temple would be of immense importance not only historically but in particular to those of the Jewish faith, as well as Christians and to Muslims, yet, that probably won't occur anytime soon as the Temple mount site suffers from the controversies and sensitivities of these religious faiths, and at the present time, the Temple Mount is maintained by the Muslim religious faith.
We live in a time to which archeology has advanced to such an extent as to be able to re-discover places and things that we have previously learned of only from historical documents and through religious artifacts, however we now have the capability and the skill to be able to re-create what transpired before in such a manner as to better appreciate and to better understand ancient civilizations and their historical times. The Second Jewish Temple existed in the time of Christ, it contained too the Holy of Holies, making the Second Jewish Temple one of the most sacred sites in the world as well as being in its time a structure that was unparalleled, it certainly deserves to beunearthed for the glory of mankind.