Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation

The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, also called St Gabriel's Church, offers an alternative tradition to the Catholic basilica: the Greek Orthodox believe that Gabriel appeared to Mary at the well where she was drawing water, not at her home. The church is built directly over this spring, and the lower crypt still contains the bubbling water source.

The church itself is beautiful — a richly decorated 18th-century structure with elaborate icon screens and frescoes in the Byzantine style, quite different from the modernist architecture of the Catholic basilica up the hill. Mary's Well, the outdoor ornamental fountain fed by the same spring, sits in a small square a short walk away.

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The Greek Orthodox tradition places the Annunciation not at the site of Mary's house — claimed by the Catholics — but at the well where Mary went to draw water. The well is still there, inside the lower crypt of the church, still connected to the same spring that feeds Mary's Well in the square outside. The rival traditions have coexisted in Nazareth for centuries without much ecumenical warmth.

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