Churches of the Holy Land: Interior of church at the Franciscan monastery on Mt Tabor, Israel,
The significance of Mount Tabor in the history of Christianity began in the fourth century when it became identified with the high mountain apart into which Christ went with his disciples Peter James and John and was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him Matthew 17 Mark 9 2 13 Luke 9 28 36 Jesus thus appeared to the disciples in his divine form as the Christ and God s beloved son Together with the Resurrection the Transfiguration became one of the central themes of the theology and iconography of the Eastern church The first churches on Mount Tabor were built before 422 and in 553 it became the see of a bishop From this period dates the large mosaic of the Transfiguration in St Catherine s Monastery on Sinai There was further building on Mount Tabor both as a place of pilgrimage and as a fortress during the Crusader period The fortress withstood an attack by Saladin in 1191 but was destroyed by Baibars in 1263 In 1631 the Druze emir Fakhr ed Din granted the summit of the hill to the Franciscans whose monastery still exists In 1911 the Greek Orthodox to whom the northern part of the summit plateau belonged built a church dedicated to St Elias Elijah The large Franciscan church designed by Antonio Barluzzi was built in 1921 23 In 1101 when Crusaders controlled the area the Benedictine monks rebuilt a ruined basilica and erected a fortified abbey 2 Currently on the mountaintop there are two Christian monasteries In 1924 an impressive Roman Catholic church of the Franciscan order was built on the peak of Mount Tabor Church of the Transfiguration The church was built upon the ruins of a Byzantine church from the fifth or sixth century and a Crusader church from the 12th century The monastery s friars have lived near the church since the Ottoman control in 1873
Size: 5200px × 3397px
Location: Mt Tabor Israel
Photo credit: © Dan Rosen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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