Near Bab al-Khalil on the western side of Jerusalem's walls and to the north of the King David Hotel lies the Jerusalem branch of the Rome-based Pontifical Biblical Institute that is affiliated with the Jesuit Catholic order. The Jerusalem institute is composed of a church, a library and a museum that displays rare relics dating back thousands of years.
To emphasize the sanctity of the site, a photo of Saint Ignatius of Loyola hangs on the entrance to the institute. Saint Ignatius, who was born in 1491 in the city of Azpeitia in the Basque Country, Spain, is the co-founder and first leader of the Jesuit order. He had visited Jerusalem in 1523.
