What are the architectural features of King Solomon's Temple?

The Temple proper was a quadrangular structure situated within a walled enclosure, measuring approximately 90 to 100 feet in length, 30 to 35 feet in width, and rising to a height of about 50 feet 1. Architecture within the system was divided into distinct areas, maintaining a separation between an outer holy space and an inner most holy place 1.

Access progressed through a series of five successive doors or entrances: the court of the Israelites, the court of the priests, the door of Solomon's porch, the sanctuary or Holy Place, and finally the Holy of Holies 2. The doors leading into the innermost sanctuary were decorated with carved cherubim overlaid with gold 2.

In the porch or portico at the entrance stood two prominent pillars 1. Near the top of their chapiters, a network carving extended over the bulging upper surface, decorated with suspended fringes and two rows of carved pomegranates containing one hundred in each row 1.

The Holy of Holies housed a purple veil supported by gold chains, hanging over the partition that separated it from the Holy Place 2. Within this inner sanctuary stood four cherubim overlaid with gold—two smaller gold figures belonging to the Ark of the Covenant made under Moses, and two larger figures added by Solomon whose outspread wings extended over the Ark and Mercy Seat 2. The heads of these cherubim faced each other with eyes directed toward the covering, featuring representations combining human, bovine, leonine, and eagle-like attributes 2.