Convent Gate

The Sisters of Our Lady of Zion Convent, hidden inside a stone wall, is one of the most beautiful places of Ein Kerem. The Convent was built about 150 years ago on a hill which faces the charming view of Mount Eitan and Sataf. The Sisters of Our Lady of Zion Convent, which originally served as an orphanage for Christian girls from Lebanon, was built by Alphonse Ratisbonne, a Jew from Strasbourg who converted to Christianity and founded a few monasteries and Catholic institutions in Jerusalem and around the world. At the Convent live nuns who belong to the order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Zion which was founded by Ratisbonne. Beside the convent there is also a well-kept garden here with fruit, pine, oak and carob trees as well as many geraniums and ivies, a lovely church and a modest inn (note the beautiful wooden shutters etched with the shape of a heart). The complex of the Sisters of Our Lady of Zion Convent also includes the house in which lived Ratisbonne himself. The house serves today as a museum which tells about his life and presents his pictures, personal items and furniture.