Nazareth - Church of the Annunciation

Leaving the upper church of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth by the north doorway, we come into a courtyard, on the right of which is the baptistery (by Bernd Hartmann and Ima Rochelle). Below it are excavations of ancient Nazareth. Going north through the courtyard, we see on the right St Joseph's Church and come to the exit (to left).

The entrance gateway of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth leads into a courtyard with colonnades along the west and south sides. The west front of the church has ornamental friezes and a large relief of the Annunciation. The three bronze doors were the work of Roland Friederichsen of Munich. On the central door, top left, is the Nativity of Christ; bottom left the Flight into Egypt and Jesus as a boy; top right the Sermon on the Mount and the Crucifixion; bottom left the Baptism of Christ.

On the south doorway are scenes from the life of the Virgin by the American sculptor Frederick Shrady.

The west doorway of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth leads into the lower church. On the north side, to the left, is the wall of the Crusader church, articulated by semi-columns, with the wall of the modern church on top of it. Going east along the nave, we come to the octagon under the dome and can look down to the earlier levels. To the left is the Grotto of the Annunciation, with an altar bearing the inscription "Verbum hic caro factum est" ("Here the Word was made flesh": John 1,14). The copper canopy over the grotto was the work of a Belgian craftsman. The columns immediately in front of the grotto are ascribed to the third century Synagogue Church. In the center of the octagon is the modern altar. To the right can be seen the side wall and circular apse of the second church (fourth- fifth centuries).

Farther east, beyond the octagon, are the three apses of the third (Crusader) church. Note particularly the richly decorated 12th century capitals in the right-hand apse.

Returning to the west end, we go up a staircase into the upper church. Like the lower church, this has aisles flanking the nave and an octagonal opening through which there is a view of the Grotto of the Nativity. The light dome over the octagon is in the form of a lily (an old symbol of the Virgin). The floor of the upper church is of inlaid marble (by Adriano Alessandrini), with scenes relating to the Virgin and to Marian councils. At the east end is the presbytery. Behind the white altar is a mosaic representing the Church, with Christ flanked by Mary and Peter and by saints. To the left is a chapel dedicated to saints of the Franciscan order, to the right the Chapel of the Sacrament.

On the walls of the upper church are images of the Virgin from all over the world. There are mosaics presented to the church by Australia, Britain, Cameroun, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Mexico; ceramics from Canada, Poland and Portugal; a fresco from Argentina; a work in steel and silver from North America, a wood-carving from Venezuela.