According to the Catholic tradition, the house of Anne- Hanna in Hebrew, was located here, where she lived with her husband Joachim and raised her daughter Miriam- mother of Jesus. The church was built by the crusaders during the 12thcentury.
This is a beautiful Romanesque building characterized by a simple structure, with thick walls and few decorations. A few years after the occupation of the kingdom of Jerusalem by Salah A-Din in 1187, the church became a Madrasa- a school for religious studies. Under the entrance arch there is an Arab inscription that glorifies Salah A-Din. During the Ottoman regime, the building was deserted and in the middle of the 19th century, it was transferred to the French government and the Catholic “White Fathers” order. The monks rehabilitated the church and exposed the remnants of the ancient churches adjacent to the church. The friendly monks of this order walking around the courtyard can by identified by their white robes.
