About the project
The Muristan is a public square and commercial area within the Old City’s Christian Quarter. The name Muristan comes from the Persian word for hospital or hospice (meristan), and the area received the name after 1099, when the Warden of the nearby Greek Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist (Prodromos) took in Crusader knights wounded in the siege of Jerusalem. In 1903, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate built a marketplace with some seventy shops that would become known as Efthymios Market for the Greek Patriarch. A baroque style fountain was built in the center to mark the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdul Hamid’s rule. The Jerusalem Foundation supported renovation of the area 1993, including new paving and lighting.
