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Ein Karem: the birthplace of St. John the Baptist


"There are two churches of St John the Baptist in the town. Best-known is the Catholic Church of the Nativity of St John, identifiable by its tall tower topped by a round spire. It is also called “St John in the mountains”, a reference to the “hill country” of the Scripture.

"The church combines remnants of many periods. An early church on this site was used by Muslim villagers for their livestock before the Franciscans recovered it in the 17th century. The Franciscans built the present church with the help of the Spanish monarchy. The high altar is dedicated to St John. To the right is Elizabeth’s altar. To the left are steps leading down to a natural grotto — identified as John’s birthplace and believed to be part of his parents’ home.

"A chapel beneath the porch contains two tombs. An inscription in a mosaic panel reads, in Greek, “Hail martyrs of God”. Whom it refers to is unknown.

"The other church, built in 1894, is Eastern Orthodox."

Quote from this link.

Approaching the Church of Saint John the Baptist






The main altar of the church



38 comments:

  1. Another gorgeos place, thanks for sharing :-)

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  2. Hi! Nice captures. I feel weight of the history. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. A beautiful place with so much history.

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  4. Thank you for sharing and hosting the link party!
    Have a good week, Sue.

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  5. It's interesting all those places. You're having a great trip!

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    1. I'm back, Lydia, but I'm relishing the memories and appreciate having a venue to share them. Thanks for your comment and for joining us at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/. Hope to see you next week!

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  6. Enjoy your holiday! Groetjes Hetty

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  7. What amazing photos. Have a great time and thanks for hosting. I made a mistake and added some Christmas posts but couldn't delete them. Sorry about that.

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  8. What a great collection of cities you got to tour! Have a great week!

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  9. Such beautiful and spiritual places to have visited, Sue.

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  10. Wow, they are so big! Thanks for hosting!

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  11. An intriguing piece of history indeed.

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  12. Holy cow, that is so beautiful and what an amazing place to visit. Very nice. Thank you very much for sharing with us.

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  13. Beautiful churches! Have a great day!

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  14. Such great perspectives of the churches. Thanks for taking me on some great tours.

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  15. Gorgeous place! I love the ceiling.

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  16. Fine and historic places Sue. Thanks for letting me join in today - much appreciated.

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  17. Such a beautiful chapel, I love the architecture!
    Hope you have a wonderful day!
    Thank you for the Linkup!

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  18. This is a beautiful building! I love your photo of the arch.

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  19. Wow! You got to go to the Holy Land? How amazing that would be!

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  20. Didn't know about the existence of this place. Great to learn more about different places with you.

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  21. Really terrific pictures! I feel transported back to Israel. It is such an amazing place, isn't it?

    Thank you for hosting, Sue! :)

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  22. Remarkable place! Thanks for sharing.

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  23. Sue, I love the architecture of these beautiful churches! I'm enjoying your photo series of Israel, a place I've long wanted to see but know I'll never make that journey. Thanks for sharing and hosting!

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  24. Beautiful architecture here, stunning shots! - tasha

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  25. What a glorious place! That chapel is stunning.
    :-)
    Traci

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  26. So fun to see pics of places so familiar to me. I always enjoy our visits to Ein Kerem. So pleased you enjoyed your trip.

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  27. It always amazes me how beautiful these churches can be. Then it's amazing to think how they built these with the tools they had back then.

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  28. Thanks for the kind words Sue! - Tasha

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  29. The last photo is definitely my favorite!

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  30. Oh how I am enjoying the photos and the stories too. Thank you for your generous sharing and your weekly link up Sue. Always appreciated. Denyse

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  31. Wow! Your posts have been so fascinating lately! :D The last photo is definitely the best one. I love seeing places where important people have been...people I've heard about since I was a small child. :-)

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