Day 8: Pools of Bethesda and Church of Saint Anne

After we walked the Via Dolorosa and spent time learning about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we grabbed breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed to the Pools of Bethesda and the Church of Saint Anne, where Mary, the Mother of Jesus would likely have been born. Most people would be born at or near home, and this was the site that was home to Joachim and Anne, the parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus.

Nearest Entry to the Lion's Gate to this Site

The grandparents of Jesus lived remarkably close to the Lion's Gate on the east side of the city, and a short block north of the Temple Mount platform. The Pools of Bethesda are at the same site. The first few photos I took were outside the Old City walls. This one shows the view of the Mount of Olives to the east. Graves occupy the section on the right part of the photo, where people have been buried for thousands of years. I knew we would visit the sites on the Mount of Olives the next day, but wasn't sure what was where. I don't see any site that we visited in this photo...somehow. I'll know more the next time I visit, whenever that is.

This is the Lion's Gate from modern ground level. Since ground level tends to rise with time, I imagine a major reason the city gates in general tend to be below the modern ground level is this general rising. Most people wouldn't build tall walls in a valley, or the wall isn't as impressive and useful.

I took a photo of a map. The big dark near-rectangle inside the bigger bold, black boundary is the Temple Mount. So we entered the Old City from the east just a block above/north of that bold box. The western half of that block on the north side of the road is the site we visited.

The nearest entry to the site was pictured first in this post. But the main entry is near the doorway marked as pictured below. The land is owned by the French, and thus "Sainte Anne".

As we entered the courtyard, it is very open. I think this might be a shot I took looking back toward the entry, but I'm not totally certain.

As we walked forward, toward the church, we passed by this garden to our right. I'll visit that more in later photos in this post.

The front of the church building looks like this at the main entry.

But as one walks past the front of the church from the right to the left of the photo above, and continues to the left of that photo, if you look to your left after reaching the end of the church, you will see the Pools of Bethesda, which I kept thinking was Bethseda. The pools are far down from where we stood. There are lots of rocks and structural bits here and there, and lots of grass in between. Jesus healed a paralytic here.

Some areas seem to have a few levels. This next photo and those so far don't look so deep. But this goes much deeper.

If you go a little farther, whoa! It's a LONG way down!

Tall arches rise from the depths. There was a Byzantine Church on this site, and the ruins remain.

I just wonder what this looked like back in the day. How high was the water? Was it way down there, or was it closer to our level?

I had to eventually capture a glimpse of some water! What are pools without water?

Some of the photos above were taken from roughly where I was in this next photo. I just turned to the left and pointed the camera upward a bit to catch the glimpse of Saint Anne's Church. They are REALLY close together. The grandparents of Jesus would likely have died by the time Jesus was born, but I suspect he would have known his family's connection to this site, especially considering how close he was to his mother throughout his entire life.

As I said before, this site is maintained by the French, and thus the French flag flies here.

The main entry to the church has an ornate pattern carved into it.

Dropping one's view down a bit, one sees the entry...and...a...plastic bird? What? Okay, there must be some symbolism or something? Why would they have such a bird hanging up there? Well, I finally see inside.

Ah! The answer to my question! Plastic birds deter live birds from entering into the basilica. Oh, right, this is more than just a church; it's a basilica.

Looking back at the door, it has some designs on it, but it's fairly simple compared to most doors at the Holy Land sites.

We were told in advance that the acoustics are amazing in this church compared to all others in the area. This church has lots of high, open, arching ceilings. They are made of stone. So the sound really travels through the space nicely. It lacks the kind of ornate paintings on the ceilings that some sites have, but this is an older site, since it was built in the 1100s sometime. It survived some of the Muslim sackings of the city in part because they converted it into an education center for a time. It's in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, but is held by Christians. France has claimed ownership of the land as part of the national domain of France, similar to properties containing an embassy. It's as if we are in France when we are here. Jacques Chirac visited Jerusalem in 1996 and ordered the Israeli security detail that accompanied him OFF French territory, and he waited until they left the property before he entered the church. Likewise, about 2-3 weeks before we visited the site, Emmanuel Macron had an altercation with Israeli security at this site. This is a land where people, religions, and nations are VERY territorial. They know they have to consistently make it clear what sites they claim ownership of.

When we entered the main entry and looked to the left, the left wall had this statue of Saint Anne and the child Mary.

When we entered the church, we heard another group singing. Most groups seem to check out the acoustics of the church. We did so as well. It helps to think of what song your group will sing prior to arriving, but it isn't critical. I recorded some singing from a few groups, but I realized it wouldn't necessarily present the auditory experience well.

So after we were up near the front, we headed downstairs. This stairway is accessible when one enters from the main entry, heads to the right wall, and then heads toward the front altar.

The home of Saint Joachim and Anne would have been down at this level. There were various works of art down there.

There are also altars.

In Revelation 12, we read of the Queen who is crowned with a crown of 12 stars who gave birth to the King. Thus, there is a crown down here with stars. The Church is formed in the structure laid out for the people of Israel. In the time of King David, the queen was the mother of the king. A king only has one mother, but kings like Solomon had many wives. So to have one queen, the queen is the Queen Mother--the mother of the king. Mary gave birth to the King of Kings, and thus her crowning signifies her queenship.

After the brief visit downstairs, there was still some time to look around and see the vast ceilings. We would return on the final morning in Jerusalem for Mass.

Before leaving the building, I thought I'd take a photo from this perspective. It shows the statue from earlier. It also shows the light shinning in from the main entry. The holy water fount is in the foreground. And behind me, there's a side entry in a spot mirrored by the statue.

I chose to step out through the main entry. This is the view straight out from it.

To the right, we see the descent down to the Pools of Bethesda.

To the left, we see the baptistry and the courtyard in the general direction from which we entered, which is still farther to the left. There is a small step up to get out of the near part of the courtyard.

I glanced back into the church, but not looking up so much this time.

Then I looked WAY up! While standing outside, I liked seeing the details of the archway.

The plastic bird isn't the only system employed to keep birds away. There are spikes lined up all along a ledge to keep birds from roosting up there.

The small, side entry that was behind me in an earlier photo is right here. It opens out toward the garden we passed earlier. The steps form arches. That reminded me of the steps down to the birthplace of Jesus, except these are designed better. The Bethlehem steps were more in number and people were expected to converge to a single point. This door is more likely to be used by people exiting the site, and thus a couple steps up and diverging makes sense. So from Bethlehem to a place near Bethesda, the similar step design is improving.

Stepping back, this shows the alignment even better. Oh, wait! There are similar steps on the other side of this door! So one steps down as one approaches the door, and then steps up whenever going away from the door, regardless of which direction you're going? It looks like it. Because the photo above is outside, and the photo below shows the arched steps inside.

A few feet from where that last photo was taken, I took this photo of the garden to the south of the church.

Here's another view of the church on the left, and the garden in the foreground. The side doorway is visible under the bushy tree.

Now to enjoy the garden for a while.

We gathered up by the church before leaving.

As we headed back to the Lion's Gate, we passed the earlier entry to the site that is marked as the Birth Place of the Virgin Mary. Some cables route into the building in such a spot as to partially obscure the name of Mary. It might make sense structurally, but not in most other ways.