Along with its traditional sites of interest to pilgrims, Nazareth has inaugurated a couple of newer sites that highlight aspects of the city in Christian contexts. Nazareth Village is a recreated village from Jesus’ time, where farmers dressed in first-century costumes and using tools and utensils from that era, actually work. Visitors can see a sower struggling to keep valuable seeds from falling waste on barren rock, or watch a builder chisel a cornerstone from a limestone quarry. There are also figures dressed up as New Testament personae, who talk about Jesus and explain His teachings via parables, and there also are a number of “parable walks” where visitors can see and experience the sort of topography and plant life that gave rise to many New Testament parables. The International Mary of Nazareth Center speaks about the Virgin Mary as part of a learning experience, to show her relevance to all people, Christian or not, and open a dialogue with them. The focus of the Mary of Nazareth tourist experience is its four screening rooms, stylized to resemble caves, with seating for about 50 each, based on periods in Mary’s life: “From Creation to Mary’s Childhood”; From the Annunciation to Jesus’ Birth”; “The 30 Years in Nazareth,” and “From Good Friday to Easter.” All the widescreen presentations are in audio-visual form and are screened in 11 languages by numerous computerized projectors as visitors move from one room to the next. Plans call for an additional room, which would relate to the spread of Christianity all over the world. The tour ends in the interactive video room, where a selection of 30-minute films on aspects of the Virgin Mary can be viewed on touch screens. Aside from these, the center features a hanging garden with about 400 species of plants, a lookout point from which the Mt. of the Precipice and most of the city’s famous churches are visible, a dining room where group meals are available and a chapel atop the facility, decorated with icons. Originally, the chapel was to have been situated in the courtyard, on the entrance level, but excavations revealed the remains of a first-century house and of a wall 800 years older, so plans for the chapel were changed and the archeological remnants put on display. Many sites within a short drive from Nazareth are associated with the life of Jesus. Sepphoris (Zippori), to the west, the birthplace of Mary’s parents Joachim and Anna and a resting place of the three magi on their journey to Bethlehem, is a beautiful national park with amazing ancient mosaics. At Moshav Hoshaya, adjacent to modern Zippori just off the road leading to Tiberias, a first-century village has been reconstructed that offers visitors the opportunity to experience Galilee life as it was lived during Jesus’ time. Mt. Tabor, venerated for centuries by many as the site of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36), is also nearby. A number of churches stand at the crest of this 4500-step mountain, accessible also by motorized vehicles. The one most frequently visited was rebuilt in the 1950s into the
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