Nazareth

Background

Famous as the home town of Jesus, the city of Nazareth lies at the southern end of the Galilee Mountains. It sprawls between, and spills over, five rounded hills: Nabi Sa’in, Romane, Kufze, Rajme and Mount Sheikh, the highest at over 500 meters. These hills form a horseshoe with Nazareth at their center. The City offers visitors a unique collection of important religious and historic sites, combined with the attractions of a thriving modern Arab city. For two thousand years Nazareth has been closely identified with Christianity, attracting millions of pilgrims from around the world. But it is also Israel’s largest Arab city, and is a major cultural centre with many types of festival. Most famously its music festivals, particularly those held during the religious holidays of Christmas and Ramadan.

The combination of unique history, architecture and culture assures the city a place among the most important and impressive destinations in the world.

Sites and attractions in Nazareth

The old city market:

The heart of the Old City is the market, one of Israel's largest, full of traditional bazaars jostling for position amid the old stone houses. It sprawls over a large part of the Old City and has spilled over into many secondary areas, such as the Vegetable Market where, despite the name, wedding dresses can be bought!
At weekends, the market is a major attraction for people across the Galilee, both Jews and Arabs, who come to sample the wide range of goods on offer.

Mary’s Well and the Ancient Bath House:

Next to Mary’s Well (al-Sabil in Arabic) is a stylish souvenir shop named Cactus, owned by Elias and Martina Shama. After buying the shop in the 1990s, the Shamas discovered that beneath it was one of the most exciting and important discoveries made in Nazareth in modern times: a network of beautifully preserved ancient stone arches that once supported a very large bath house. The exposed remains probably date back to the Roman era -- that is, to the time of Jesus, and were fed by the same water that supplied Mary’s Well. The finds, which also include a furnace, and a white marble floor imported from Rome, suggest that a radical reassessment may be needed of the significance of Nazareth at the time of Jesus.

Nazareth Village:

Although not an ancient site itself, the Village, a careful reconstruction based on the work of leading researchers, offers a guided tour back into the world of Jesus. Visitors are shown ancient agricultural and construction practices, witness the pressing of olives and taste the foods of the day. Villagers in replica costumes help bring the whole experience to life. Nazareth Village offers a unique chance to understand and see how life was experienced by Nazarenes 2,000 years ago.

Nazareth’s Mansions:

At the foot of the western Nabi Sa'in ridge that overlooks Nazareth is a large concentration of traditional two-story houses, built of white Galilee stone with tiled roofs, patios, and inner courtyards. They were built during Ottoman rule in the 18th century, when local leaders such as Governor Daher al-Omar, a native Palestinian, ruled the Galilee on behalf of the Ottomans. Under his rule the economy thrived, particularly in Nazareth. He substantially enlarged the city, and wanted to open it to the world.

Basilica of the Annunciation:

 built above the sunken grotto which Roman Catholics believe was the home of the Virgin Mary and the place where she received the Annunciation -- the place where the Archangel Gabriel told her that God had chosen her to bear his son.

The Mount of Precipice:

No visitor to Nazareth should miss the breath-taking panorama from the city’s highest point, about 2 km to the south-east of the city. The Mount of Precipice, also known as the Mount of The Leap of the Lord and Jabal Kufsi in Arabic, is traditionally the place in the Bible where the people of Nazareth took Jesus to hurl him into the abyss below.