Abu Ghosh - Christian Sites

Christian Sites

The Crusader Church at the entrance to the village is one of the best preserved Crusader remains in the country. The Hospitallers had built this Gothic church at 1140 and it was destroyed in 1187. It was acquired by the French Government in 1899 and placed under guardianship of the French Benedictine Fathers. Since 1956, it has been run by the Lazarist Fathers. Today double community of nuns and priests continue the worship in the church and offer hospitality reflecting the ancient story of the couple on the Jerusalem Emmaus road. Edward Robinson (1838) described it as “obviously from the time of the crusades, and more perfectly preserved than any other ancient church in Palestine.” Excavations carried out in 1944 confirm that the Crusaders identified the site as the biblical Emmaus.

The Church of Notre Dame de l'Arche de l'Alliance (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant), built in 1924, is said to occupy the site of the house of Abinadab where the Ark of the Covenant rested for twenty years until King David took it to Jerusalem. It is built on the site of a fifth-century Byzantine church. It is recognizable by the roof-top statue of Mary carrying the infant Jesus in her arms.