Nazareth in Galilee is celebrated by Christians as the town where the Virgin Mary was told by the angel she would become pregnant with the Son of God. It also became the hometown of Jesus, Mary and her husband Joseph after the family returned from fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod the Great.
Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament and has the reputation of being an insignificant backwater — summed up by Nathanael’s reply when told that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).
It provided an ideal setting for the years of preparation Jesus needed as he “increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (Luke 2:52). It was also a place from which a young boy could watch the world go by: south of the village, a vantage point overlooked the Plain of Jezreel, where traders and travelers passed along a great highway between Babylon and Cairo.
There are a number of sites to visit in Nazareth.
- Church of the Annunciation: The massive, modern, two-story church, is the largest Christian church in the Middle East.
- Church of St Joseph: Next to the Church of the Annunciation, on the northern side this unpretentious building is very much in the shadow of the imposing Annunciation basilica. Stairs lead down to a crypt, where a 2-metre square basin cut into the rock, its floor decorated in a black-and-white mosaic, is believed to be a pre-Constantinian baptismal site. Further steps and a narrow passage lead to an underground chamber. A pious tradition from the 17th century, with no foundation, holds that this chamber was Joseph’s carpentry workshop. The apse of the church has three noteworthy paintings: The Holy Family, The Dream of Joseph, and The Death of Joseph in the Arms of Jesus and Mary.
- Mary’s Well and Church of St Gabriel: North of the Church of the Annunciation, just off the main street, is Mary’s Well. Fed by the main freshwater spring in the little village, it would have been visited daily by Mary, often accompanied by her young son. According to the Greek Orthodox, whose Church of St Gabriel is adjacent, this is the true site of the Annunciation. But both traditions can be accommodated by an account in the early Protoevangelium of James. Water from the spring can be seen in St Gabriel’s Church, in a well-like structure in the crypt. The stonework dates from the time of the Crusaders, who also built a church on this site. St Gabriel’s, surrounded by a high wall, contains many interesting icons and frescoes.
- First-century houses: In December 2009 the Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a house from the time of Christ in the center of Nazareth calling it “the very first” residential building found from the old Jewish village. The house consisted of two rooms and a courtyard with a cistern to collect rainwater. The remains of the house were found during an excavation prior to construction of the Mary of Nazareth International Center, next to the Church of the Annunciation. The remains are conserved and displayed in that building.
- Nazareth Village: Life in the time of Jesus has been authentically recreated on the site of a 1st-century working terrace farm. Visitors can see and hear the animals, smell and taste the food, see donkeys pull a plough and hear in-character villagers talk about daily life and their work at the wine and olive presses, on the threshing floor and in the weaving room. Besides watchtowers, a spring-fed irrigation system and an ancient quarry, the village has an accurate replica of a 1st-century synagogue.
- Church of the Nutrition: A lesser-known site that may include the remains of Jesus’ childhood home. Archaeological research indicated that an underground complex beneath the convent of the Sisters of Nazareth may be the location of the long-lost Byzantine-era Church of the Nutrition, believed to have been built over the house of Mary and Joseph, and where Jesus was nurtured.
- Church of the Synagogue: The dome and bell towers of this Melkite Greek Catholic church rise over the old market of Nazareth. The church incorporates a Crusader building believed to be on the site of the synagogue in which Jesus preached. This simple stone room with a plain altar evokes the Gospel account (Luke 4:16-30) in which Jesus read the Messianic passage in Isaiah 61 (“The spirit of the Lord is upon me”) and proclaimed that he was the fulfillment of this promise.
- Mount Precipice: South of Nazareth, on Mount Kedumim, is the cliff on which it is supposed the attempt was made to throw Jesus to his death. The view over the Jezreel Valley and Mount Tabor is spectacular from here.
- Franciscan Museum: A courtyard on the northern side of the Church of the Annunciation provides access to a museum, on a lower level, displaying artifacts dating back to the 1st century. Of particular interest are five superbly carved capitals discovered buried in a cave in 1908. Carved in France, they were to have crowned columns at the entrance of the Crusader church. They arrived after the Crusader kingdom had
- Church of Jesus the Adolescent: This attractive French Gothic-style church, atop the western Nabi Sain ridge, offers a fine view over Nazareth’s rooftops and the Galilean hills. Above the altar is an impressive marble statue of Jesus as a boy of about 16.
- Mary of Nazareth International Center: Just across the street from the Church of the Annunciation, it uses multimedia techniques to show the place of the Mother of Jesus in Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions.
