In the center of the Shechem, the modern city of Nablus, a very special well stands on land purchased by Jacob (Genesis 13:18-19). His son Joseph, whose remains were brought back to the Promised Land by the Israelite Tribes, was buried in a tomb not far from the well.

In John 4, Jesus stood at the well and asked a Samaritan woman for water, eventually revealing himself as the Messiah (John 4:5-26). The ruins of two churches and the unfinished walls of a third are found at the site. A cross-shaped church was built at the site during the Byzantine period using the well as its center.