In the Path of the Crusaders – Uncover the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem

Highlights

• We will start our tour at Jaffa Gate and visit our first Crusader landmark inside the Citadel (Tower of David) complex. After taking control of the City in 1099, the Crusaders built a tower surrounded by a moat atop the citadel and posted lookouts to help protect the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem. From this landmark, we will make our way through the Christian Quarter to our next stop at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. While the church is relatively recent, it was built on the land which used to be home to the convent Saint Maria Latina and the Hospital of St John (established by the Knights Hospitaller of St John). After exploring the remnants of the Crusader cloisters next to the church, we will proceed to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which in 12th century underwent extensive renovations that unified all the small chapels under one roof for the first time. Next, we will continue our walk along the Via Dolorosa to our final stop inside the Old City at the Church of St Anne, one of the most exquisite examples of Crusader architecture in the entire country. We will also see the ruins of a Crusader chapel at the adjacent Pools of Bethesda. From here, we will take our bus to the Mount of Olives to visit the Chapel of the Ascension. Built by the Crusaders in the 12th Century above the remains of an earlier 5th-century Church, the final church was later destroyed by the armies of Salah Ad-Din leaving only the fragments of a partial octagonal wall surrounding the small octagonal shrine which was later converted to a mosque. We will then make our way to the 12th-century Crusader Church believed to be the site of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Finally, we will travel by bus to the Mount Zion to visit the last two Crusader landmarks on our tour—the Dormition Abbey and the Cenacle (the Last Supper Room). The German Dormition Abbey was built on the ruins of the Crusader Church of St Mary of Mount Zion. Just south of the Dormition lies the Cenacle (Coenaculum) or Room of the Last Supper which is the only remaining part of the Crusader Cathedral of St Mary that was destroyed in the late 12th or early 13th Century.