Attraction Archives | Page 12 of 33

Mary’s Well

Mary’s Well is the place where, according to Catholic tradition, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary announcing that she would bear the Son of God. The spring and its water are considered holy by both Muslims and Christians, and earlier generations attributed unusual healing properties to it.

The spring begins in a cave thirty meters north of the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. Originally, the public well was located next to the small pool that is now inside the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. After the church was established, local people were barred from using the well and a replacement was built in the shape of a public water trough, to which the water was channeled from the church. The water was also used by farmers to irrigate their fields.

For many centuries the public water trough was a meeting place for the city’s residents and passers-by. Older residents recall it as being one of the most vibrant places in Nazareth. Mary’s Well is a site of religious, historical and cultural importance; the water trough and the large tree next to it have become the city’s symbol and are used as the City Council’s logo.

Synagogue Church

The Synagogue Church is a small Christian church in the heart of Nazareth known by this name due to a tradition claiming that this is the location where the village synagogue stood in Jesus’ time. Above its doorway is an embedded sign in Arabic and English: “Synagogue.” The structure is administered by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

In 570, an Italian visitor described Nazareth’s synagogue, and reported that the original Bible was still there, including the bench where Jesus used to sit. The floor of the Synagogue Church is sunken about 1.5 meters underground, possibly built atop a Crusader church dating from the 12th century. The church was under the control of the Franciscans until the 18th century, when the ruler Zahir al-Umar passed it to the Greek Catholics. In 1887, the Melkite Greek Catholic parish church of the Annunciation was built adjacent to the Synagogue Church.

According to Christian tradition, the church is built on the ruins of the ancient Nazareth synagogue where Jesus studied and prayed. In addition, it is where one Sabbath day Jesus went to preach. In two Gospels (Matthew 13:54-58, Mark 6:1-6), his fellow townspeople became angry with him. Because he was one of them, they did not trust him to have the authority to preach in that way and to perform miracles. He was amazed at their lack of faith and concluded that a prophet is not honoured in his own home town.

In Luke 4:14-30, the account differs: there, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1,2 and the worshippers are pleased. But he tells them that prophets are called to do their work in foreign places rather than at home, because they are not accepted in their own home town. In doing this, he also implicitly declares himself as the Messiah. This sermon infuriates the listeners, who drag him to a cliff to throw him over, but he simply walks through the crowd and leaves.

Little is known of the years Jesus spent in Nazareth, leading scholars to describe this time as “the hidden life” or “the silent years”. It is thus all the more significant for Christian visitors to find a lone place where such silence is broken – the Synagogue Church.

Image attribution:
Ori~, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

Nazareth Village

Set on the outskirts of old Nazareth, the Nazareth Village is built on ancient agricultural land that boasts the area’s last remaining first-century wine press. The original farm has been restored with its ancient wine press, terraces, irrigation system and stone quarry, and exact replicas of first-century houses, a synagogue, a watchtower, mikveh and olive presses have been carefully constructed using the original building methods and materials.

Together, these elements form the Nazareth Village, an authentic first-century farm and archaeologically accurate re-creation of the hometown of Jesus with real ties to the life and time of His friends, family and fellow Nazarenes. Nazareth Village is an open-air museum in Nazareth, Israel, that reconstructs and reenacts village life in the Galilee in the time of Jesus.

The village features houses, terraced fields, wine and olive presses all built to resemble those that would have been in a Galilee village in the 1st century. Muslim and Christian living history enactors dress in period costume and show visitors how farm, domestic, and craft work was performed two thousand years ago.

Pilgrims to the Holy Land typically only see the dead stones of ancient ruins, but the geographical and cultural nuances of Jesus’ teaching are often crucial to understanding their full meaning. At Nazareth Village, bible scenes are brought to life by “villagers” who populate the farm and houses, living and working with the same type of clothing, pottery, tools and methods that Mary and Jesus would have used. Gifted and knowledgeable guides lead visitors through a living representation of the parables of Jesus within their original context before offering the opportunity to seal the experience with an authentic biblical meal.

As part of the Nazareth Trust, which runs the nearby Nazareth Hospital, Nazareth Village is a not-for-profit organisation that covers most operations through entrance fees and gift shop sales. However, it welcomes contributions to cover programmes for children, biblical and archaeology courses, and especially the ongoing preservation and development of the Nazareth Village site.

The Chagall Windows

The twelve stained glass windows, which Marc Chagall created for the synagogue and donated to Hadassah in 1962 represent the unique characteristics, attributes, professions and strengths of the twelve sons of the biblical patriarch Jacob. Marc Chagall’s main inspiration is derived from the Bible, particularly Jacob’s blessings to his twelve sons and Moses’ words to the twelve tribes.

The colorful light that emanates from the twelve stained glass windows bathes the Abbell Synagogue at the Hadassah University Medical Center in a special glow. The sun filters through the brilliant hues of the stained glass capturing their radiance. Even in the misty haze of a cloudy day, Chagall’s genius transforms time and space.

The tour of the Hadassah Heritage Center and the Chagall Windows is the best way to discover one of the most famous and splendid works of Marc Chagall and the incredible humane work of the Hadassah organization throughout the past 100 years.

Church of Saint John the Baptist

The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a Catholic church in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, that belongs to the Franciscan order. It was built at the site where Saint John the Baptist was believed to have been born.

In 1941–42 the Franciscans excavated the area west of the church and monastery. Here they discovered graves, rock-cut chambers, wine presses and small chapels with mosaic tiling. The southern rock-cut chamber contained ceramic, datable to a period stretching from approximately the first century BC till 70 AD, an interval that includes the presumed lifetime of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John. The community living here has been dated by the archaeological findings back to the Roman, Byzantine and Early Muslim periods.

Most of the current church structure dates back to around the 11th century, with the lower courses possibly dating to the Byzantine period (4th-7th century).

Church of the Visitation

The Church of the Visitation is a Catholic church in Ein Karem, Jerusalem, and honors the visit paid by the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. This is the site where tradition tells us that Mary recited her song of praise, the Magnificat, one of the most ancient Marian hymns.

The Bible doesn’t mention the birth place of John, it only states that Mary went to “a town in the hill country of Judea”. One tradition attributes the construction of the first church of Ein Karem to Empress Helena of Constantinople, Constantine I’s mother, who identified the site as the home of John’s father, Zachary.

The courtyard contains a statue of Mary and Elizabeth, and on the wall opposite the entrance to the lower church are forty-two ceramic tablets bearing the verses of the Magnificat in as many different languages. On the facade of the upper church is a striking mosaic commemorating the Visitation. Next to the church proper, a Crusader hall of the 12th century survived in good condition.

The lower church contains a narrow medieval barrel-vaulted crypt ending with a well-head from which, according to tradition, Elizabeth and her infant drank. The well is connected to a Roman or Byzantine overflow pipe running under the medieval floor. Also preserved are remains of the ancient church and beautiful mosaic floors.

The rock with a cleft next to the entrance of the medieval crypt is said to mark the site where the mountain opened up to hide Elizabeth and the infant John from Herod’s soldiers – this is the “Rock of Concealment”. This tradition is based on the 2nd-century apocryphal Protoevangelium of James 22:3. The interior of the lower church holds Italianate frescoes depicting Zachary at the altar of the Lord, the Visitation, and Elizabeth hiding her son during the Massacre of the Innocents.

The walls of the upper church are decorated with frescoes. Those on the southern wall are depicting five episodes, from left (east) to right (west):
The Council of Ephesus (431), which defined Mary as Theotokos or the Mother of God;
Mary protecting Christians with her mantle, according to the oldest extant hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary as Theotokos, the Sub tuum praesidium;
the Wedding at Cana;
The Battle of Lepanto (1571), in which a united Catholic fleet defeated an Ottoman fleet, a victory ascribed to the help of the Virgin Mary under the title Mary Help of Christians and celebrated by the Catholic Church with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary;
Duns Scotus, supported by the Franciscans, defending his thesis on the Immaculate Conception at the Sorbonne in Paris against the dissenting Dominicans.
Behind the altar, a fresco is showing Mary approaching through Judaea, with the Franciscan custos presenting her the model of the church and the Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem of the time in attendance.

Verses from the Magnificat are painted on the columns of the church. In the corners are the four cardinal virtues, and around the windows on the left side of the church are Christian writers (Fathers and Doctors of the Church) who have written about the Virgin Mary. The ceiling is painted in the Tuscan style of the 14th century.

Abraham’s Well

Abraham’s Well is a historical water well in Be’er Sheva, Israel, associated with the biblical narrative of Abraham. Its structure houses the archaeology museum of Be’er Sheva and is located near the Old City of Be’er Sheva. According to the Hebrew Bible, Abraham’s well was seized by Abimelech’s men, and Isaac’s servants also dug a well at Be’er Sheva.

Image attribution:
Abrahams Well, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Ramat HaNadiv

At the southern end of Mount Carmel, between Zikhron Ya’akov and Binyamina, lies Ramat Hanadiv – Gardens and Nature Park – over an area of about 450 hectares, dedicated to the memory of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. At the heart of the Memorial Gardens buried the Baron and his wife. The contrast between the meticulous Gardens and the Mediterranean Nature Park around them, is one of the wonderers of Ramat Handiv.

Far beyond its value as a geographical site, Ramat Hanadiv plays a leading role in the management of natural and cultural resources based on sustainable interactions between man, nature and the environment, and encourages understanding and appreciation of this ideal. To fulfil this mission, we invest great effort in innovative management, scientific research, environmental education, and inherent link between humanity and the environment, particularly as it concerns communities.

The Memorial Gardens invite the guests into a place of rare tranquility. Visitors may stroll the pathways among the exquisitely landscaped gardens and breathe their fragrance throughout the year. A gracious combination of European formality and Mediterranean-style vegetation, the Gardens reflect the Baron de Rothschild’s legacy of dignity and modesty. Along the paths visitors can view the Nature Park and its characteristic Mediterranean scenery.

You are invited to enjoy the rich range of activities that take place in Ramat Hanadiv: to find out the story of “The known Benefactor”‘, to stroll among the flowers in the Memorial Gardens; or to take a walk out to the Nature Park, where the past reflected in the archeological sites, the present shown in the flora and fauna, and the future realize according to the vision of Ramat Hanadiv

Ramat Hanadiv is a living memorial to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, operating for the benefit of the Israeli public as a whole and for generations to come.Ramat Hanadiv plays a leading role in the management of natural and cultural resources based on sustainable interactions between man, nature and the environment, and encourages understanding and appreciation of this ideal.

Yitzar Hirschfeld has carried out archaeological digs in Ramat Hanadiv over a period of 14 years. The excavations at Horvat ‘Aqav and Horvat Eleq, has unearthed remains from three periods: a small Phoenician shrine, a Herodian estate manor and a Byzantine period villa. It has been hypothesized that there was a spread of malarial mosquitoes in Ramat Hanadiv during the late Byzantine period.

Zichron Yaakov Pedestrian Mall

The Zichron Yaakov Pedestrian Mall, also known as Midrahov, is a cobblestoned street lined with historical structures, outdoor cafes, restaurants, clothing and antique shops, as well as art shops and galleries. Though the street is not long, you will find several nice spots to shop and relax.

This Midrahov is the original street of Zichron Yaakov, and many of the houses are of great historic value and contain plaques on the outside the tell the stories of their original use. At the end of the street is the First Aliyah Museum which tells the fascinating story of the pioneers from Europe who established this town over a hundred years ago.

Amphorae Winery

Amphora Winery was founded in 2000 by Guy Rilov and winemaker Gil Schatzberg when the wine production was initially done in a shed on an indoor farm. It was only a few years ago that he moved to an impressive and spacious stone structure erected in the area of the entrance to the farm.

Since its establishment, the winery has undergone a process of constant renovations and improvement, as well as several ownership changes. Since 2016, winemaker Maayan Koshitsky has run the winery and Dr. Yuval Samuel joined during this time as an active partner in the winery and has since served as the winery’s new CEO.

Amphora Winery and its Indoor Farms maintain ecological reciprocity with the environment and operate in accordance with the values of belonging to the environment, minimal intervention and prevention of environmental pollution. The winery and farm are pioneers in the use of ecological processes currently applied in wine production and their involvement in energy saving and reduction of environmental pollution measures will increase in the future.

A solar energy system provides most of the winery’s electricity consumption (except during the peak period, at harvest time). In the future, an ecological cooling system will also be added to the system, based on the temperature differences between the ground and a depth of about one hundred meters. This move is expected to save about 50% of the energy consumption currently required for the winery’s cooling systems.

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