Mary's Well

Mary's Well  is reputed to be located at the site where, according to the Catholic tradition, Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, mother of Jesus and announced that she would bear the Son of God – an event known as the Annunciation.

Found just below the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in modern-day Nazareth, the well was positioned over an underground spring that served for centuries as a local watering hole for the Palestinian villagers. Renovated twice, once in 1967 and once in 2000, the current structure is a symbolic representation of the structure that was once in use.

Mary's well for Catholics:

The Catholic Church believes the Annunciation to have taken place less than 0.5 km away at the Basilica of the Annunciation, a now modern structure which houses an older church inside of it that dates from the 4th century.

This basilica was erected after a first small church was built there at the request of St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century on the site where she found the source of Mary's Well. This place is also named Mary's Well. Today this source is located in the basement of the Annunciation basilica. Excavations has shown that it is fed by the same source as the well close to the Orthodox Church, and probably existed at least since the 2nd century.