View from one part of wall of St.John the Baptist Church in Ein Kerem

An early church on this site was used by Muslim villagers for their livestock before the Franciscans recovered it in the 17th century. The Franciscan monks started to settle here in 1674, after Louis XIV arranged a permit from the Ottoman rulers.They purchased lands and houses, including the area of the monastery. The monastery was completed in 1895. The modern church was built in the second half of the 19th Century and completed in 1920. The construction was financed by the Spanish monarchs and since then the monastery is headed by the Spaniards.