What is the…
Fountain of the Virgin

also known as: The Virgin's Fountain and the Gihon spring

This is a spring in the Kidron Valley which is the perennial source from which the Pool of Siloam is supplied. The spring water flowed in a copious stream to the pool through a tunnel cut through the rock, the actual length of which is 1,750 feet.

The spring rises in a cave 20 feet by 7.

A serpentine tunnel 67 feet long runs from it toward the left, off which the tunnel to the Pool of Siloam branches.

It is the only unfailing fountain in Jerusalem.

The fountain received its name from a unlikely legend that the virgin Mary washed the swaddling-clothes of our Lord here.

This is one of the world’s major intermittent springs. It has the unusual characteristic of being intermittent, flowing from three to five times daily in winter, twice daily in summer, and only once daily in autumn. This peculiarity is accounted for by the supposition that the outlet from the reservoir is by a passage in the form of a siphon.

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Article Version: August 6, 2021