The ‘Inn of the Good Samaritan’: Religious, Civic, and Political Rhetoric of a Biblical Site

Note: Funding Information: Pasha, a rectangular Ottoman inn was built over the southern part of the former Byzantine and Crusader structure, and the present-day main building (built in 1903) was used as a police station during the period of the British mandate.41 The church gradually disappeared, its mosaic floors being discovered only in 1934, after which pilgrims started to take out mosaics as a souvenir or a relic. The present-day museum was initiated by Magen and his team and erected under the umbrella of the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria. It was funded by the Israel Government Tourist Corporation and the Israel Antiquities Authority. The aim was to attract tourists and pilgrims.42 A decision was made to use the space for the exhibition of mosaics of Jewish and Samaritan synagogues and of church mosaics, all found in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.43 The Ottoman inn, however, has been beautifully restored and is furnished as a museum dedicated to the parable. So are a Second-Temple cave and the remains of the fifth-century Byzantine church. In the cave, visitors are able to watch a video scene showing a fragment of a 1925 silent movie, re-enacting the parable in the very same surroundings (see below). The few remains of the mosaic floor of the church led to a second, interesting, decision. Using old photographs, a project was carried out to reconstruct the floor by means of manually fabricating 1.7 million tesserae, employing old, Roman techniques or cutting and fixing the stones in old-recipe cement. A permanent wooden structure provides roofing and demarcates the church’s original space (approximately 20 × 10 meters). Seating arrangements, a sober pulpit, and the roofing facilitate both touristic and religious practices. Through these, the construction exudes the semi-sacral atmosphere of the former Church. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.