Inn of the Good Samaritan
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.
The Good Samaritan Museum entrance | |
| Established | 4 June 2009 (opening date) |
|---|---|
| Location | West Bank, Palestine |
| Type | Archaeology and mosaic museum, biblical site |
| Collection size | Mosaics from ancient churches and synagogues |
| Curator | Yitzhak Magen |
| Website | The Good Samaritan Museum |
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, 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.