Historical Information about Holy Sites in the Holy Land
Mount Tabor, Qumran, Mary's Well, Mount of Beatitudes, Tabgha, Cana of Galilee, Capernaum, Mount of Temptation, Grotto of Nativity, Ein Karem, Shepherd's Field, The Holy Sepulchre, The Basilica of the Annunciation
Mount Tabor
The Mount of Transfiguration. The Franciscan Church of the Transfiguration was built in 1924. The ruins include Byzantine and Crusader basilicas and a 13th century fortress wall.
Qumran
Community center of the Essenes who produced the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. They lived in natural caves in the adjoining cliffs, in tents, and in underground chambers cut in the soft marl. They gathered here for all the religious and economic activities of the sect. The well-preserved ruins, situated on a little plateau on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea. The Essenes had been forced to abandon the site as the result of military action in the days when Herod the Great fought for his kingdom 40-37BC . They returned after some years to continue their monastic form of life until the Romans expelled them in AD68. They hid their Scriptures in eleven of the caves around their settlement. Two Bedouin shepherds discovered the scrolls in 1947, since then more than 400000 manuscripts and fragments, have been discovered. The scrolls are on exhibit at the Shrine of the Book and in the Israeli Museum and in the Rockefeller Museum
Mary's Well
Mary's Well is Nazareth’s biggest spring and its only natural water supply.
Women used to come to this spring to draw water and do the washing,Mary might have also come to it.
Mount of Beatitudes
In 1938 the Franciscans built The Church of the Beatitudes on the mountain where tradition holds that Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. The octagon formation of the church represents the eight beatitudes
Tabgha
The Greek word Heptapegon means (the place of seven springs) , and it was corrupted in Arabic into Tabgha. The village of Tabgha houses,The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, the Church of the Primacy of Peter and the Church of the Sermon on the Mount of Beatitudes
Cana of Galilee
The place where, according to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus performed his first public miracle, the turning of a large quantity of water into wine at a wedding feast (John 2:1-11).
Capernaum
is an ancient fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is home to a celebrated Byzantine-era synagogue as well as the house where Jesus healed a paralytic and St. Peter's mother-in-law.Capernaum is frequently mentioned in the Gospels and was Jesus' main base during his Galilean ministry. It is referred to as Jesus' "own city" (Mt 9:1; Mk 2:1) and a place where he lived (Mt 1:13). He probably chose it simply because it was the home of his first converts, Peter and Andrew (Mk 1:21, 29).
Mount of Temptation
On this mountain which is called in Arabic (Jebel Quruntul ), west of Jericho , is the place where Jesus was tempted by Satan. The Greek Orthodox Church acquired the site in 1874, and most of the present monastery had been reconstructed by 1895.
Grotto of Nativity
The Grotto of Nativity has been venerated as the birthplace of Jesus since the time of Hadrian, 135 AD. The Church of the Nativity was first dedicated by Queen Helena in 339 AD. The Grotto of Nativity lies in the lowermost cave of the church.
Ein Karem
Home of Zachary and Elizabeth and birthplace of John the Baptist.
Church of St. John the Baptist: The earliest church on the site goes back to the 5thcentury. It was recovered by the Franciscans in the second half of the 17th century.
Church of the Visitation: With its mosaic façade (1955) depicting Mary visiting Elizabeth. The two-tier church was completely rebuilt in 1946, but care was taken to incorporate all the medieval and Byzantine elements that came to light.
Shepherd's Field
While no one knows the location of the angels' visit to the Shepherds, it was certainly somewhere in the vicinity of the hills of Bethlehem. Two sites remember this event; one belongs to the Greek Orthodox and the other to the Roman Catholics.
The Holy Sepulchre
The most sacred site of Christianity. In the early C4 the emperor Constantine decided to build a church commemorating the Resurrection. Constantine’s church, started in 326, was dedicated in 335. The building had been set on fire by the Persians in 614, then rebuilt by patriarch Modestus. It was again destroyed in 1009 by the Fatimid Caliph Hakim, and reconstructed in 1042-1048 by Constantine Monomachus. After capturing Jerusalem in 1099, the Crusaders were slow to modify the church, but it was erected in
The Basilica of the Annunciation - Nazareth
The Basilica of the Annunciation (the place where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary) was designed by the Italian architect Giovanni Muzio. He conceived a plan of two churches, one above the other and interconnected.
