Walk Through the Places That Shaped Christian History

The Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives honours the place where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer.

The City of David is the oldest part of Jerusalem, home to the Pool of Siloam where Jesus sent a blind man to wash and receive his sight.

Bethany is the village just outside Jerusalem where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and stayed with Martha and Mary.

The Milk Grotto is a soft white cave in Bethlehem where tradition says the Holy Family sheltered, honoured especially by mothers and families.

Magdala is the newly excavated Galilean town of Mary Magdalene, with a first century synagogue where Jesus himself may have taught.

The Mamertine Prison is the ancient Roman jail where tradition holds that both Peter and Paul were held before their martyrdom.

Saint John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome and the seat of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, the oldest and highest ranking of the city's basilicas.

Saint Paul Outside the Walls is the great Roman basilica built over the tomb of the Apostle Paul, one of the four papal basilicas of the city.

The catacombs of Rome are the underground burial galleries where the early Christians buried their dead and worshipped in times of persecution.

Saint Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world and the heart of the Catholic Church, built over the tomb of the Apostle Peter in Vatican City, Rome.

Cappadocia is the land of cave churches and underground cities in central Turkey, a cradle of early Christian monastic life.

Tarsus is the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, the city that shaped the man who would carry the gospel across the Roman world.

Antioch, today Antakya, is the city where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians and from which Paul set out on his missionary journeys.

The Seven Churches of Revelation are seven early Christian communities in western Turkey to whom the risen Christ sent letters in the Book of Revelation.

Umm Qais, the ancient Gadara, is the Jordanian site above the Sea of Galilee remembered for the healing of the demoniac and the herd of swine.

Machaerus is the hilltop fortress in Jordan where, by ancient accounts, John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded.

Madaba is the Jordanian town famous for the oldest surviving map of the Holy Land, a sixth century mosaic on a church floor.

The Holy Family's flight into Egypt is remembered along a trail of churches and resting places across the country, from Cairo southward.

The Monastery of Saint Anthony by the Red Sea is the oldest active Christian monastery in the world, founded around the father of monasticism.

The Church of Saint Sergius in Old Cairo is built over the crypt where tradition says the Holy Family sheltered during their flight into Egypt.

Meteora is the astonishing cluster of Orthodox monasteries built on towering rock pillars in central Greece, a living centre of monastic prayer.

Kavala, the ancient port of Neapolis, is where Paul first set foot in Europe, the gateway of the gospel to the West.

Berea, today's Veria, is the Greek town whose people Paul praised for searching the Scriptures daily to test what he taught.

Thessaloniki is the lively northern Greek city where Paul preached and to whose believers he wrote his two earliest letters.

Qumran, above the Dead Sea, is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, the oldest known copies of almost every book of the Hebrew Bible.

Saint Peter in Gallicantu is a church in Jerusalem built over the palace of Caiaphas, where Jesus was held overnight and Peter denied him three times.

Bethany Beyond the Jordan, on the Jordanian bank of the river, is honored as the place where John baptized Jesus.

Coptic Cairo is the ancient Christian quarter of Cairo, honored as a resting place of the Holy Family during their flight into Egypt.

Mount Sinai is the mountain in Egypt where Moses received the Ten Commandments, with Saint Catherine's Monastery and the burning bush at its foot.

Patmos is the small Greek island where the Apostle John was exiled and received the visions of the Book of Revelation.

Corinth is the ruined Greek city where Paul lived and worked for eighteen months and to which he wrote two of his most beloved letters.

Ephesus is the great ruined city on the coast of Turkey where Paul stayed longest, one of the seven churches of Revelation, and a home of the Apostle John.

Caesarea Maritima is the ruined Roman port on the Mediterranean where Peter baptized the first gentile believers and Paul was held before sailing to Rome.

Nazareth is the town where Jesus grew up, and the Basilica of the Annunciation marks the place where the angel Gabriel told Mary she would bear the Son of God.

The Mount of Beatitudes is the gentle hill above the Sea of Galilee where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes.

Capernaum is the fishing village on the Sea of Galilee that Jesus made the center of his ministry, home to Peter and the place of many miracles.

Philippi is an ancient city in northern Greece where the Apostle Paul founded the first Christian church in Europe.

Mars Hill, also called the Areopagus, is a rocky hill below the Acropolis in Athens where the Apostle Paul preached his famous sermon to the Greek philosophers.

Petra is an ancient city carved into rose-colored rock in southern Jordan, and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Mount Nebo is a mountain in Jordan where, according to the Bible, Moses stood at the end of his life and looked out over the Promised Land.

Tabgha is a quiet spot on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, honored as the place of the feeding of the five thousand.

Masada is an ancient fortress on a high, flat mountaintop overlooking the Dead Sea, famous as the site of a Jewish last stand against Rome.

The Dead Sea is a salt lake between Israel and Jordan, and at over 430 meters below sea level it is the lowest place on the surface of the earth.

Jericho is considered the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, and it appears throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Shepherds' Field is the area near Bethlehem where, according to Luke's Gospel, angels appeared to shepherds and announced the birth of Jesus.

Ein Karem is a green village in the hills near Jerusalem, honored as the birthplace of John the Baptist and the place of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth.

Old Jaffa is one of the oldest ports in the world, near modern Tel Aviv, tied to the story of Jonah and to Peter's vision that opened the faith to all nations.

Mount Carmel is a green mountain ridge above Haifa, bound to the memory of the prophet Elijah and his contest with the prophets of Baal.

Cana of Galilee is the village where Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding feast.

Mount Tabor is a rounded mountain rising alone from the Galilee plain, honored as the place of the Transfiguration of Jesus.

The ridge east of Jerusalem's Old City that holds the Ascension, the place Jesus wept over the city, and where he taught the Lord's Prayer

The ruins of two ancient pools in Jerusalem where, according to John's Gospel, Jesus healed a man who had not walked for thirty eight years

An Ethiopian Orthodox monastery on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, home to an unbroken African Christian presence for centuries

Qasr al-Yahud is the site on the Jordan River, near Jericho, traditionally honored as the place where John baptized Jesus

The church built over the cave traditionally honored as the birthplace of Jesus, and one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world

The Upper Room, or Cenacle, on Mount Zion is honored as the place of the Last Supper and where the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost

The surviving western retaining wall of the Herodian Temple Mount, the most sacred place of prayer open to Jews, and a moving place for Christians too

The Via Dolorosa, meaning the Way of Suffering, is the route through Jerusalem's Old City that pilgrims walk to follow the path Jesus took to his crucifixion

A peaceful garden outside the Old City walls with an ancient rock-cut tomb, honored by many Protestants as a place to remember the resurrection

Gethsemane is the olive grove at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed on the night of his arrest

It is the church in Jerusalem's Old City built over Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and the empty tomb where He was buried and rose