Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Karem

Also known as Ein Karem Church of St John, Birthplace of John the Baptist

Tradition identified the village of Ein Karem in the Judean hills west of Jerusalem as the birthplace of John the Baptist. Russian abbot Daniel, who visited the Holy Land in 1106, described a 'small cavern' there where John was born. The Crusaders built a vaulted three-apse Romanesque church directly over the grotto in the twelfth century. After 1187 the building was abandoned by the Christian community and used as a stable; in the seventeenth century the Franciscans regained the site and rebuilt the upper church around the surviving Crusader vaults and the grotto, which is still the focus of worship today.

Coordinates: 31.7654°, 35.1611°

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