Inn of the Good Samaritan

This article is about the historical inn (has never been a monastery), now museum. For other uses, see Khan al-Ahmar.

The Good Samaritan Museum
The Good Samaritan Museum entrance
Map
Established4 June 2009[1] (opening date)
LocationWest Bank, Palestine
TypeArchaeology and mosaic museum, biblical site
Collection sizeMosaics from ancient churches and synagogues
CuratorYitzhak Magen
WebsiteThe Good Samaritan Museum
Welcome sign at the Good Samaritan Museum
Jewish mosaic from Byzantine-era synagogue
The Inn of the Good Samaritan Museum in 2010, during construction work to expand Highway 1 (Israel–Palestine) to a dual carriageway, separating the inn from the Herodian castle ruins
Roof over the restored mosaic floor of the Byzantine church. The structure can again be used for Christian worship.

The Inn of the Good Samaritan is a national park, museum, ancient archaeological site and former inn administered by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority located near Ma'ale Adumim, halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho, at an elevation of 298 meters above sea level.[2]

The Inn is named after the New Testament's Parable of the Good Samaritan, and houses a museum of ancient mosaics and other archaeological findings mostly dating from the 4th-7th centuries that were collected from churches and Jewish and Samaritan synagogues from the West Bank and from the ancient Gaza synagogue.

Beginning in biblical times, Jewish pilgrims from the Galilee took the nearby Jerusalem-Jericho road to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. In later times, Christian pilgrims used the road to reach the baptismal site of Jesus on the Jordan River, near Jericho. The area of the Inn of the Good Samaritan was repeatedly fortified, and traveller-inns were built a little below the hilltop. This is reflected in the presence of two distinct, if related, archaeological sites in close proximity to each other, the other site being the ruins of a castle believed to have been built by King Herod although today they are separated by the modern Jerusalem–Jericho highway.

Today, the Inn of the Good Samaritan is a mosaic museum,[3] and serves as a tourist attraction visited especially by international tourists, particularly Christians. The museum features a guided audio tour, and is accessible to persons with disabilities.[4][5]

  1. ^ "The Museum of the Good Samaritan opens to the public (6/7/09)". Israel Antiquities Authority. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haaretz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "The Good Samaritan Museum". All About Jerusalem. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  4. ^ "The Inn of the Good Samaritan Travel Guide" (PDF). ISRAEL NATURE AND PARKS AUTHORITY. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  5. ^ "ATQ/21/6 (letter to Deputy District Commissioner Jerusalem)". The Israel Antiquities Authority: The scientific Archive 1919-1948. 27 July 1928. Retrieved 22 August 2019. It is reported to us on good authority that the people of Silwan claim ownership of this site upon which are the ruins of the monastery and church of St Euthymius situated a little to the South of the old road to Nabi Musa on a track branching from the road to Jericho at a point between the 13th and 14th kilometre stones. The place is known as the Khan al-Ahmar but is not to be confused with the Good Samaritan Inn known by the same name.