The tabernacle, as described in the Bible, was a portable sanctuary : a fenced courtyard containing a tent-like structure with two inner rooms, filled with sacred furniture and rich fabrics.

Overall layout (big picture)

  • The whole complex sat inside a large rectangular courtyard made of linen curtains hung on posts, open to the sky.
  • At one end of this courtyard stood the tabernacle tent itself: a gold‑covered wooden framework draped with multiple layers of cloth and animal skins.
  • The entrance to both the courtyard and the tent faced east and was marked by a more colorful curtain or “screen.”

Think of it as: outer yard → small building‑tent inside → two rooms inside that tent.

The courtyard

Inside the outer fence, you would first see:

  • Bronze altar for burnt offerings (sacrifices), standing in the open courtyard near the entrance.
  • Bronze basin (laver) for the priests to wash before serving, placed between the altar and the tent.
  • The fence itself was a long rectangle, about 100 cubits by 50 cubits (often estimated around 150 ft x 75 ft / 45 m x 23 m), made of white linen hangings supported by pillars.

The feel would be: a bright linen enclosure in the desert, with smoke rising from the bronze altar and the tent set further in.

The tabernacle tent: size and structure

The inner tabernacle was a rectangular tented building :

  • Rough dimensions: about 30 cubits long, 10 cubits wide, 10 cubits high (roughly 45 ft x 15 ft x 15 ft / 13.5 m x 4.5 m x 4.5 m).
  • Made from wooden boards (acacia) standing upright, overlaid with gold and fastened together with bars and rings.
  • Covered by several layers:
    • Inner fine linen with blue, purple, and scarlet, often described as embroidered with cherubim.
* Over that, goat‑hair curtains.
* Over that, rams’ skins dyed red.
* Outer layer of tougher animal skins for weather protection.

So visually: a gold‑lined rectangular frame inside, completely hidden from outside view by rich fabrics and leather‑like coverings.

Two inner rooms

Inside, a heavy veil divided the tent into:

  1. The Holy Place (front room)
    • Larger room (about two‑thirds of the length).
 * Contained three main items:

   * **Golden lampstand (menorah)** with seven lamps on one side, providing light.
   * **Table of showbread** on the opposite side, with bread set before God.
   * **Altar of incense** in front of the inner veil, used for burning fragrant incense.
  1. The Holy of Holies (inner room)
    • Smaller, cube‑like space at the very back.
 * Contained the **ark of the covenant** , with its gold cover (the “mercy seat”), flanked by golden cherubim.

 * Separated by a richly woven veil in blue, purple, and scarlet.

Only priests entered the Holy Place regularly, and only the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year.

Visual feel and symbolism

From a visual standpoint, people in the camp would mainly see:

  • A bright fabric fence in a rectangular shape.
  • A bronze altar and basin in an open yard.
  • A modest, dark‑covered tent rising inside, with outer skins not flashy from the outside.

But inside the tent, it would look very different:

  • Walls gleaming with gold‑covered boards.
  • Richly colored linen with blue, purple, and scarlet and cherubim motifs overhead and at the veils.
  • The warm glow of the seven‑branched lampstand , flickering on gold surfaces and sacred items.

Many modern diagrams and models try to reconstruct this look, so if you imagine a low, rectangular, tent‑roofed building of skins, within a fabric courtyard, with a radiant gold interior divided into two rooms, you’re very close to what the biblical tabernacle is described as looking like.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.