Jifna / Crusader Site of Jifna

Also known as Jifna, Jafenia, Jafenie, Jifneh, Gophna

Jifna sits about 23 km north of Jerusalem on the old road to Nablus. The Crusaders held it from 1099 onward as the small lordship of Jafenia (the form "Raymundus de Jafenia" appears in a 1182 charter). At its centre they built a fortified courtyard manor with a monumental gate guarded by a portcullis, a large vaulted hall, and thick walls of well-cut masonry — substantial remains of which still stand in the village core. They also partially rebuilt the older church of St. George with salvaged Byzantine masonry; it fell into ruin again after Saladin's victory in 1187. Later massive walls in the centre of the village are in an Arab post-Crusader style and should not be conflated with the twelfth-century work. Jifna is one of the better-preserved examples of a Frankish rural manor in the Latin Kingdom.

Coordinates: 31.9619°, 35.2156°

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