Mary's Well

At Mary's Well circa 1934-1939
A structure of white stone containing an arch is seen in a plaza of similar stone. Two short trees are shown in the foreground.
Mary's Well in Nazareth, 2005.

Mary's Well (Arabic: عين مريم , Ain Maryam, or Arabic: عين العذراء, ʿAin al- ʿadhrāʾ, "The spring of the Virgin")) is a freshwater spring reputed to be located at the site where, according to one Christian tradition associated with the apocryphal Gospel of James, Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary, mother of Jesus, and announced that she would bear the Son of God – an event known as the Annunciation. It has been further associated in the past with episodes from another apocryphal infancy gospel, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

Two adjacent sites historically fed by the same spring are popularly known as Mary's Well – the spring underneath the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation (also known as St. Gabriel's), and the well structure in the plaza to its south - which served as the sole water source of the village until the nineteenth century, and continued to be used by those without plumbing or home cisterns well into the twentieth century. Originally on the outskirts of Nazareth and seen as a sanctified source by both the Christian and Muslim inhabitants and Christian pilgrims from around the world for nearly two millennia, as the city expanded, it became a central square and meeting place for the Palestinian community and is a symbol of the city.

In religious texts

Gospel accounts

Painting imagining how the well might have looked in the 1st century AD (Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov)

The earliest account placing the Annunciation or first encounter between Mary and the angel Gabriel at a well or spring comes from the Protoevangelium of James, a non-canonical gospel dating to the 2nd century. The author writes:

"And she took the pitcher and went forth to draw water, and behold, a voice said: 'Hail Mary, full of grace, you are blessed among women.'"

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas mentions the boy Jesus breaking the jar he was supposed to bring water with from the well, but miraculously carrying the water in his mantle instead.

Quran

The Quran records a spirit in the form of a man visiting a chaste Mary to inform her that the Lord has granted her a son to bear, without referencing the drawing of water, but records a stream of water coming up from the ground at her feet when she was giving birth of Jesus in the same passage of the Quran: Surah 19:16-25.

Hydrology

Titus Tobler's 1868 map of Nazareth: top right is the "Greek Church" (spring underneath); at bottom-center is the "Latin monastery" (today surrounding the rebuilt Basilica of the Annunciation)

The spring water in Nazareth emerges from a natural spring in Jabal al-Sikh[where?] and travels in underground rock-cut channels, some natural,[dubious – discuss] others carved, channeling the water to spots where it can be drawn inside the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation and to the public fountain of Mary's Well 130 metres (430 ft) away. This spring was the only perennial water source serving Nazareth in ancient times and was then located 500 metres (1,600 ft) to the north of the village center. It is fed by three other underground water sources, one also in Jabal el-Sikh and the other two in Jabal al-Sa'in[where?]. A smaller spring known as the Apostle's Fountain would only emerge in the rainy season along the western slopes of the village[where?].

History and archaeology

Early Roman period

Excavations by Yardenna Alexandre and Butrus Hanna of the Israel Antiquities Authority in 1997-98, sponsored by the Nazareth Municipality and the Government Tourist Corporation, discovered a series of underground water systems, and two of the rock-cut channels were dated to the Roman period (c. 2nd-4th century). These, along with Roman era potsherds and numismatic finds from the same period, indicate continuous activity at the site in this early period.

Byzantine and Early Islamic periods

The site known today as Mary's Well was in use as the main water supply of the then village in Byzantine Palestine. In a text attributed to Egeria in which she describes her visit to Nazareth in c. 383, she mentions that there is a spring at the village limits where Mary is said to have drawn water.

Arculf, a pilgrim to the Holy Land from the seventh century, told the Irish abbot Adomnán the story of his travels, and Adomnán wrote it down. Arculf described having heard of "a very clear spring, frequented by all the citizens, who draw water from it, and from the same spring water is raised in vessels to the church above by means of wheels." Oddly, he seems to have mixed up the church at the outer limits of the village (where the spring was) with the church in the center of the village (now the Basilica of the Annunciation), as the account placed the spring in the latter, though there is no spring there, only a cistern. The confused account was subsequently used to bolster pilgrimage to the Basilica. Yardenna Alexandre counts the account, inaccurate as it is, to be the oldest record of a Byzantine church of the Annunciation erected above the spring outside Nazareth.

It is speculated that sometime in this early period, channels were used to make the spring water accessible to those from outside the church, as it would close during the night hours, and because people filling their vessels and watering their flocks would disturb prayers at the church. Archaeological excavations did find that channels were carved out in the preceding early Roman period were reused during this period.

Crusader period

At the time of the Crusaders' Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1187), Nazareth was made a metropolitan see and a new fountain house was built at the site to serve the public and pilgrims. An account by Saewulf (1101-1102) describes a spring of clear water around which stood marble pillars and panels. A few years later, the Russian Orthodox abbot Daniel (1106-1108) gives a detailed account of the spring and its location:

"Then we left this town and went a little way to the north east where we found a wonderful well which was deep and very cold, and to reach the water you must go deep down on a stairway. And above this well there is a church dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, and it is round. It is a good bow shot from the town of Nazareth to this holy well - At this well took place the first Annunciation of the Archangel to the Holy Mother of God."

Theodorich also describes the water pouring out of a marble lion's head, attesting to the ornamentation added by the Franks' reconstruction.

Many accounts from this period from pilgrims associated with Western church mention the spring and fountain house without mentioning the church, whereas pilgrims from the Eastern church do mention the church, indicating it was an Orthodox church. For example John Phocas recalls seeing it at the entrance to the village when approaching it from neighbouring Saffuriyya in 1185 and he mentions a fresh spring bubbling forth clear water in the grotto of the church.

Mamluk period

Even after Baybars captured Nazareth in 1265 and evicted all the foreign Christians from the village, pilgrimages to the site continued, and there are several descriptions from them between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries that mention "The Fountain of St. Gabriel" or "The Fountain of Jesus and Mary". While some of these descriptions place the fountain inside the church, others describe the public fountain outside the church structure. James of Verona locates the clear spring at a distance of two bow shots from the Latin Church of the Annunciation and as adjacent to the partially destroyed Orthodox chapel, and recounts the traditional belief that Mary and Jesus drank and drew water from it. Niccolò da Poggibonsi also places the spring of "St. Gabriel" next to the church of the same name, and describes the church as still in use. The Russian monk Grethenios describes the fountain as covered by a square vault resting on marble columns, while Francesco Suriano also describes it as a covered basin, surrounded by a wall with steps going down to it.

Archaeological evidence attests to the importance of the public fountain to the life of the villagers in Nazareth, with extensive remains of glass jewellery and vessels, pottery and coins from this period, many of which were thrown in the fountain, providing further evidence of its sacrality among both Muslims and Christians alike, who were aware of and kept alive the tradition of Mary's use of the well. It was a center for activity, not just in drawing water, but also merchants who came to sell their wares where people were gathering. The fountain house during this period underwent constant renovations and maintenance.

Glass remains dating to this period include omons (perfume sprinkler) and conical windowpanes with green glass which wete commonly used in bathhouses (see section below).

Ottoman period

The "fine" and "good" waters of the fountain adjacent to the church of St. Gabriel, which is alternately described and being in ruins or in use, are mentioned by several visitors to Nazareth in the sixteenth century, among them Greffin Affagart in 1533, Boniface of Ragusa in 1564, and Jan van Kootwijck in 1598. Between 1620 and 1626, Franciscus Quaresmius provides several detailed descriptions of the spring, both inside the chapel of the church, which is underground and reached by stairs, and outside. He says the fountain outside the chapel serves the water into a marble vase beside which there is also a pool. He also is the first traveller to mention the seasonal waters provided by "The Fountain of the Apostle" which he says are collected inside the Mensa Christi Church on the western hillside.

William Rae Wilson describes "a well of the Virgin, which supplied the inhabitants of Nazareth with water" in his book, Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land (1824).

James Finn, then British consul in Jerusalem, visited Nazareth in late June 1853 and his company pitched their tents near the fountain - the only fountain there. He writes that "the water at this spring was very deficient this summer season, yielding only a petty trickling to the anxious inhabitants. All night long the women were there with their jars, chattering, laughing, or scolding in competition for their turns. [...] It suggested a strange current of ideas to overhear pert damsels using the name of Miriam (Mary), in jest and laughter at the fountain of Nazareth"

Rapid population growth over the course of the 19th century placed serious strain on the available water supply from the spring leading to shortages, a priblem not solved until a 1911 intervention. The problem was compounded by the fact that the spring water was left to simply continuously flow from three stone outlets in the fountain, with the excess being reabsorbed into the ground.

British Mandate period

The increasing water problem and imperfect technical solutions of the 19th century were solved in 1911 by installing iron pipes within the stone water channels, topped with self-closing brass taps at the point of delivery, and saving overflow water in underground cisterns instead of letting it go to waste. The project was overseen by Amin Abdul Hadi, the Ottoman governor of Nazareth, and implemented by Gottlieb Schumacher, the German district engineer of Acre.

Well into the twentieth century, the public fountain continued to serve as Nazareth's main water supply and villagers would gather here to fill water pitchers or otherwise congregate to relax and exchange news.

Ain Umm el-Qasab spring

At another area in the Sharqiya quarter further downhill at a spring known as Ain Umm el-Qasab, shepherds and others with domesticated animals would bring their herds to drink during the first half of the 20th century.[failed verification]

Israel

Following Israel's establishment in 1948, in the 1950s, municipalities were asked to choose and design logos, and Nazareth's selected a depiction of Mary's Well for its own.

The daily public use of the well as a water source came to end in the 1960s when the municipality cut off the water leading from the church to the public fountain citing contaminants found, and while the water was cut, it was decided to rebuild the fountain structure. The design was unsuccessful, using a new kind of stone and without accommodating any flow for the spring. Following consultations with elders, another reconstruction was undertaken in the 1990s, using the same traditional stone and style of the Ottoman-era fountain. The water, when it does flow, no longer comes from the spring, and is instead provided by the Israeli water company Mekorot. The reconstruction was inaugurated as part of the Nazareth 2000 celebrations. According to Fu'ad Farah, "the Orthodox community supported replacing the structure, because then pilgrims and tourists could note that because of its newness it was not a traditional site", the traditional site he meant being the "spring" inside the Orthodox church.

Ancient water installations

Amateur as well as professional archaeological work near the well has produced data on ancient water installations including a bathhouse. The dates for the latter are as yet inconclusive, suggesting it was built in the Mamluk period (see article).

References

  1. 1 2 Finegan, Jack (2014). "42. The Fountain of Mary at Nazareth". The Archeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church (revised ed.). p. 44. Retrieved 29 October 2026.
  2. ↑ Dahamshe, Amer (2026). What's in a Name: Stories Behind Arabic-Palestinian Place-Names in Israel. Indiana University Press. p. 130. ISBN 025307519X. Retrieved 29 October 2026.
  3. 1 2 Pringle (1998). The Churches... pp. 140–143.
  4. 1 2 3 Alexandre (2012), p. 2.
  5. ↑ Slyomovics 2009, p. 18: "Despite the location of Mary's well in the crypt of Greek Orthodox St. Gabriel's Church, popular belief conflates this miraculous event to yet a third site hydrologically connected to the second at Nazareth's central spring known also as the Virgin's Fountain or St. Mary's Well Square. Differences between the two churches are doubly spatial: not only the dispute over the precise spot of the Annunciation, but a set of spatial differences in which Greek Orthodox popular belief gives prominence to the public space of Nazareth's meeting point as opposed to the private, intimate, domestic female space described by Latin Christian texts."
  6. ↑ Slyomovics 2009, p. 29: "Although the well on the plaza had always been a shrine in its own right, to eliminate confusing the devout, who were directed on pilgrimage to the interior well in St. Gabriel's Greek Orthodox church crypt away from the exterior central plaza well of popular belief, drastic measures were taken to cut the water flow from the church to the public space of the well on the square."
  7. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. v.
  8. ↑ Sharif-Safadi (2013), p. 42.
  9. ↑ Slyomovics 2009, p. 41.
  10. ↑ Emmett (1995), p. 81.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pringle (1998). The Churches... p. 141.
  12. 1 2 Alexandre (2012), p. 153-154.
  13. 1 2 3 Alexandre (2012), p. 155.
  14. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 140.
  15. 1 2 Alexandre (2012), p. 141.
  16. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 141n: "However, the association of the church inside the village with the “very clear” or “clearest spring, frequented by all the citizens” is inaccurate and it is almost certain that the spring here referred to in superlative terms is the source lying outside the town near Mary’s Well. The mistake may be a copier’s error that transpired when first transmitted to Adomnan, but it is quite probable that it was a later editing gloss resulting from the divergent Annunciation traditions of the Western and Eastern churches. Scholars have proposed various explanations to reconcile the placing of the water source inside the town in the Arculf text. Jean-Bernard Livio has suggested that the site is located beneath the nearby Sisters of Nazareth Convent [see here], where a cistern and a possible Byzantine chapel were uncovered, the cistern possibly supplied by a small stream flowing down from Nebi Sa‘in (Livio 1980:33). Clemens Kopp went as far as to propose that the Byzantine town was clustered around the spring, and that these village remains around the spring were totally removed in the seventh century (Kopp 1963:78). Bagatti’s suggestion that the spring mentioned relates to a cistern under the church inside the town (Bagatti 1969:25) is unconvincing, as the cistern’s water could hardly be described as a clear spring providing water for all the inhabitants. According to my proposed explanation, Arculf’s account would be the earliest record of the Byzantine church commemorating the Annunciation built over the spring outside the town."
  17. ↑ Slyomovics 2009, p. 16: "Despite the singularity of the miracle of the messianic Annunciation, two churches built in Nazareth each vied to preserve a unique moment in mankind's history at a precise locale that marks when and where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." For Roman Catholics, the divine-human encounter enacted through Gabriel to Mary occurred within the courtyard confines of the Basilica of the Annunciation. Built as late as 1730 as a Franciscan church, demolished in 1955, and constructed anew by 1969, the Basilica is a Nazareth landmark labeled the largest house of Christian worship for Roman Catholics in the Middle East. The Basilica stands in contrast to parallel claims of the Greek Orthodox location of the Annunciation. As with two Annunciation sites in Nazareth, there are also two, if not three, wells associated with the Virgin Mary where Mary, accompanied by the child Jesus, drew water for her everyday needs: one located within the enclosure walls of the Roman Catholic Basilica, and a second, within the Greek Orthodox St. Gabriel Church in the Chapel of the Spring, both sites renowned as tourist and pilgrimage destinations for centuries. Sectarian differences focus on the geography of the Annunciation, less so sustained by core theological divergences. Each church claims to possess the actual geographical feature of Mary's Well, just as each church maintains the association of the Virgin Mary symbolically and mythically with water."
  18. ↑ Sharif-Safadi (2013), p. 39.
  19. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 16-20.
  20. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 144, 155.
  21. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 94-45, 100.
  22. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 145.
  23. ↑ Alexandre (2012), p. 145-146.
  24. ↑ "Fountain of the Virgin, Nazareth". A Month in Palestine and Syria, April 1891. Retrieved 1 February 2012. Book in private hands, author and photographer unknown, posted with permission of the New Boston Fine and Rare Books. Archived 2017-11-16 at the Wayback Machine[dead link]
  25. ↑ William Rae Wilson (1824). Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land. Oxford University. p. 212.
  26. ↑ James Finn: Stirring Times, or, Records from Jerusalem Consular Chronicles of 1853 to 1856. Edited and Compiled by His Widow E. A. Finn. Volume 2, p. 23, London 1872.
  27. 1 2 Alexandre (2012), p. 3.
  28. ↑ William Eleroy Curtis (1903). To-day in Syria and Palestine. F.H. Revell company. p. 244.
  29. ↑ Emmett (1995), p. 85.
  30. 1 2 3 Sharif-Safadi (2013), p. 46-47.
  31. ↑ Monterescu, Daniel; Rabinowitz, Dan (2007). Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities: Historical Narratives, Spatial Dynamics. Ashgate Publishing. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-7546-4732-4.
  32. ↑ Emmett 1995, p. 83: "With the building of the several churches at the site, the water was eventually channeled fifty yards beyond the church to make it more accessible to villagers. The structure built over the terminus of the water supply has a distinct shape, resembling five sides of an octagon standing on end. Several decades ago, the municipality, which owns Mary's Well and uses its image on the municipal logo, tore down the centuries-old structure and replaced it with a larger limestone structure in the same five-sided shape. Fu'ad Farah noted that the Orthodox community supported replacing the structure, because then pilgrims and tourists could note that because of its newness it was not a traditional site. Farah took action to further ensure that pilgrims visited the correct site by personally cutting the pipes leading down to Mary's well."

Bibliography

32°42′24.16″N 35°18′5.62″E / 32.7067111°N 35.3015611°E / 32.7067111; 35.3015611