Muristan means 'hospital or hospice' in Persian.
In 1099 the Warden of St. John's monastery took in a number of Crusader knights wounded in the siege of Jerusalem.
Some stayed to take care of the sick and to protect pilgrims as the Knights of St John of the Hospital.
They became the militairy order of the hospitalers and later the Knights of Malta.
The hospital disappeared in the 16th century, and would have been on the site of the present fountain.
Entrance Muristan via Hatsaba'im Street. In Roman times this was the site of the forum.
In 1903 the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate built a marketplace with some seventy shops in the Muristan area.
