Fountain of the Virgin

The Fountain of the Virgin is the perennial spring that supplies the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, located in the Kidron Valley at the southeastern base of the City of David. It is known today as Gihon (Hebrew gushing), the spring whose intermittent outflow gives its name from the way it gushes periodically. The Fountain of the Virgin is one of the few natural water sources in or near Jerusalem, making it strategically vital to the city throughout its history.

King Hezekiah's famous water tunnel (2 Chronicles 32:30; 2 Kings 20:20), constructed approximately 1,750 feet through solid rock, redirected the spring's waters through the hill into the Pool of Siloam within the city walls in anticipation of the Assyrian siege of 701 BC. This remarkable engineering achievement — confirmed by the discovery of the Siloam Inscription in 1880 — protected Jerusalem's water supply from outside attack. The Pool of Siloam, fed by this spring, was the site where Jesus healed a man born blind by instructing him to wash there (John 9:7, 11).