Convent of the Sisters of Zion

The Convent of the Sisters of Zion is a convent of the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Sion, located near to the eastern end of the Via Dolorosa, in Jerusalem. The convent was built in 1857, by Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, but the site also contains ancient archaeological remains of significant value.

In 1857, on the land later taken by the convent lay ruins. Ratisbonne, a French Jew and former atheist who converted to Catholicism and became a Jesuit, decided to purchase the site. Between 1858 and 1862, he built a basilica (the Church of Ecce Homo), an orphanage for girls, and standard convent buildings. As the convent was quite confined in size, the nuns bought a few of the surrounding Arab homes, incorporated them into the convent; they soon opened a medical dispensary on the site. Due to the introduction of state support for orphans, by the Ottoman government and later (1948) by the Israeli government, the orphanage buildings have been used for other religious purposes since 1967. The Convent now maintains a guesthouse and library.

Immediately beneath the convent is an extensive area of Roman flagstones; as these continue, to a lesser extent, under the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross, they have been known about for several centuries. These flagstones were once thought to be the pavement (Greek: lithostratos) which the Bible describes as the location where Pontius Pilate adjudged Jesus' trial, but archaeological investigation now indicates that it is the paving of the eastern of two 2nd century Forums, built by Hadrian as part of the construction of Aelia Capitolina.

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