Chapel of the Shepherd's Field

The Shepherds' Field Chapel is a Roman Catholic religious building. In the area of Beit Sahour, southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank in Palestine. The chapel marks the place where, according to Catholic tradition, angels first announced the birth of Christ.

Byzantine and Umayyad Period

Prior to the construction of the present chapel in 1953, Franciscan archaeologist Virgilio Canio Corbo excavated the site and found evidence of a large monastic establishment, whose church dates to the 5th century. The church was re-built during the Islamic times under the reign of the Umayyad Empire.

Modern church

The Shepherds' Field Chapel was built by the Franciscans in 1953. It is not far from the Greek Orthodox Der El Rawat Chapel, commemorating the same event.