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Shlomo Ammami, Asaf Peretz, Abraham Hai/Courtesy Staff Officer of Archaeology

With a commanding view of the strategically important Jerusalem-Jericho road, the remains of the Crusader Tour Rouge, or Red Tower, still stands watch from the hill northeast of the Good Samaritan Inn. It is part of a fortress built by the Knights Templar to replace an earlier Byzantine fortress that protected Christian pilgrims staying at the khan below. The tower was surrounded by additional defensive features, including a surrounding moat, a protective outer wall, and pointed barrel vaults on two sides to enclose the most accessible parts of the fortress.