Crusader Church Central Apse

View looking east at the central apse at the east end of the nave of the Crusader Church.   Note the grayish marble tiles that lined the floor of the central apse.

The Church was built ca. 1136 by King Fulk of Anjou. 

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A Crusader fortress was built at Beit Gibelin by King Fulk of Anjou on the ruins of an Early Islamic fort.  This was granted to the Hospitallers in 1136.  Under their patronage and protection, a civilian settlement of 32 Frankish families settled there in AD 1160.