Come to Israel, Day 3, 2019, continues

The Church of the Annunciation was built over what has been known as the house of the Virgin Mary since the 1^st century.                               

The bronze door to the        church is carved with major images from Jesus’ life, from the annunciation to the crucifixion.   

In front of the church doors, Leo stopped to explain to us that this is the largest church in the Middle East and, according to Leo, the church which broke the heart and spirit of Antonio Barluzzi, the architect who “built the holy land”.  Barluzzi had proposed a plan for this church, which was the final church to be built in the holy land at the time of Queen Helena; however, the job was given to another architect… and Barluzzi never got over it.

                        Just inside the church is a large   mosaic of the Virgin Mary.  This is Her church.

The architect who did design the church built it out of cement, to make it earthquake proof.

The walls and ceilings of this church are not as beautiful as other churches, because they are peppered with small, round holes. But for some like this gorgeous rotunda, you can’t even tell!

Inside, the main church it’s all Mary. Along the side walls are more than a dozen huge mosaics and other artistic renderings of the Virgin Mary, each from a different country.

Here are a couple of examples, the US one was difficult to capture, because it was closest to an altar and so was partially blocked.

From Mexico

From the US

The painted images around the three altars were also amazing; the one around the main altar show Jesus’ ascension.

But were here to see Mary’s house, and from where we were standing above, it could easily be seen.   And right behind the main altar, a railing enclosed the large opening above the house, and a set of stairs led down to Mary’s home in Nazareth.

The church was built over the original home of Mary, some of which was destroyed in a later Byzantine overtake – however enough was left for them to rebuild a replica, even using some of the original stones.  The current house may or may not be exactly like the original one, but this absolutely is the spot where Mary, and later, Joseph and Mary lived.