To the right of the mosque is a small building containing the sarcophagi of Al-Jazzar and son; you can peek through the barred windows at the marble boxes, now covered with soil and green plants. Al-Jazzar turned the buried Crusader cathedral into an underground water reservoir, filled by rainfall and pipelines. You can enter the recently renovated reservoir through a small door and underground stairway to the left of the mosque. Look for the small green sign and red arrows. Modest dress is required; large scarves are available for those not already covered. The guides who offer NIS24 tours vary in quality. Some are very knowledgeable, while others are merely literate in Arabic and will read you a few inscriptions. (Open daily 8am-5:30pm. Admission NIS2.)

A restored white stone gate, the entrance to the subterranean Crusader City, stands across from the mosque on Al-Jazzar St. When first discovered, the rooms were thought to have been built underground, but archeologists have since determined that Al-Jazzar found it easier to simply build his own city above them. Because excavations were halted for fear that the Arab town above might collapse, most of the Crusader City remains buried; only the area originally known as the “Hospitaller’s Quarter” is open. In the entrance halls, three enormous pillars stand amidst a variety of architectural styles. Almost anything in these halls decorated with I pictorial representations such as flowers or human forms is the work of the Crusad-1 ers, while the more abstract embellisliments and the Arabic calligraphy are Ottoman additions. The flowers engraved in several of the columns are among the earliest! examples of’the fleur-de-lis, the French imperial insignia. The neighboring halls date] from the original 12th-century Crusader City and were probably part of a hospital I complex in which the Hospitaller Order gave medical attention to pilgrims. The j arches project directly from the floor, indicating that the current foundation is some ] 4m above the bases on the original level. The barrels and girders throughout the I complex were placed there recently CO support the original walls.