Basilica of the Annunciation

The Basilica of the Annunciation is the largest church in the Middle East and one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites anywhere. The current building dates from 1969, but the site has been venerated since the Byzantine period — it stands over the grotto traditionally identified as the home of Mary, where the angel Gabriel appeared to her. The lower church preserves the grotto and remnants of the Byzantine and Crusader-era churches that preceded the current building.

The upper church is notable for its extraordinary collection of mosaic panels depicting the Madonna and Child, each donated by a different nation and rendered in wildly different artistic styles — from a serene Japanese Virgin to an African Madonna. The contrast between the severe modern exterior and this explosion of global devotion inside is genuinely striking. Franciscan friars administer the site; dress modestly.

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When the Italian architect Giovanni Muzio designed the current basilica in the 1960s, he insisted on incorporating the medieval grotto — the site of the Annunciation itself — at the very center of the lower church, so that pilgrims descend into the earth to reach the most sacred spot. The upper church, with its striking elliptical dome, was left deliberately plain on the outside so that the ornamented tile panels donated by Catholic communities around the world would draw the eye on every wall.

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