Ein Karem - an ancient village near Jerusalem, now its western region. Buried in a green hilly area with the village houses, above which rises the bell tower of the churches, it is not like the rest of the city. This extraordinary settlement history: it gave the world John the Baptist.

People settled here for thousands of years: they attracted local sources required in hot climates water. Ein Karem in Arabic and in Hebrew and means "a source in the vineyard." The village is mentioned in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 6: 1) to a spring is written in the famous Copper Scroll from Qumran treasure.

Scripture says that Jesus pregnant young Mary went "into the hill country, to a city of Judah," to see her cousin Elizabeth, who wore while at heart the future of John the Baptist. "The city of Judah" - this is the current Ein Karem. It was the summer home of the priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. Its location is defined in the IV century, Emperor Constantine's mother, St. Helen Equal-organized in the Holy Land archaeological excavations. Perhaps that St. Helen built on the site of the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth's first church. Later, the Crusaders built here storey temple, which was rebuilt in 1955 - is the Catholic Church of the Visitation.

Directly under the name of John the Baptist Church are linked Ein Karem with similar stories. The first - the Catholic, St. John in the mountains, erected in the late XIX century on the ruins of the Temple of Herod times, Byzantine and Crusader. Tradition says that the cave discovered here is the birthplace of John the Baptist. Greek Orthodox church of St. was built at the same time, and also the ruins of the temples of earlier eras. The village is also a church of St. John in the Desert, preserving the memory of the place where the Baptist lived as a hermit. The first mention of this place is the chapel belongs to the XII century.

On top of one of these mountains stands the monastery of Notre Dame de Sion, where the XIX century housed a shelter for orphaned girls. The excellent acoustics of the local church, there are often concerts. The monastery is famous for its magnificent gardens.

There Ein Karem and a small corner of Russia - Orthodox Monastery Gorny. There he is from the XIX century, the church of the Our Lady of Kazan completed and consecrated only in 2012. Right from the entrance to it is a stone, near which, according to tradition, John the Baptist preached.

Title Ein Karem is true now. In the southern part of the village still beats the source from which, according to Christian tradition, on the way to the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, stopping drunk Virgin Mary. Studies have shown that people use sources ranging from the Bronze Age. And now many come here with bottles to collect water from the spring of Mary. Now there is a mosque in her basement - a small room with vaulted ceilings. Pure cold water flows from a narrow tunnel, hewn in the rock in the era of the Second Temple.