At the end of the 19th century, there were already numerous Germans going on organised pilgrimages to Jerusalem, some offered by the recently merged German Association of the Holy Land, founded in 1885. Since 1866 there has been a small guest house for German pilgrims close to the Jaffa Gate. At a meeting with the German Kaiser Wilhelm II during his travels through Palestine in 1898, the German Lazarist Friedrich Wilhelm Schmidt suggested building a new bigger and more suitable accommodation for pilgrims. The Kaiser had already supported the construction of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and the establishing of the Abbey of the Dormition on Mount Zion. With his support, the German Association of the Holy Land successfully acquired two parcels in the immediate vicinity of the Damascus Gate in 1899. The pilgrim hospice project was taken on by the architect of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne, Henrich Renard, who was also responsible for building the Abbey of the Dormition and the Dormitio Church on Mount Zion at the same time. The first foundation stone was laid on 20 March 1904. In 1908 the Saint Paul Hospice was opened and entrusted to the Catholic Sisters of St. Carl Borromaeus. It offered space for approximately 160 guests and it quickly became a much beloved place among German pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.