Saxum Visitor Center
Enhance your Holy Land Experience
Monday to Friday,
9am–5pm
Road to Nataf, 3978
Abu Ghosh
Visitor Center
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Our guided tour helps visitors to immerse themselves in the history of the Holy Land through timelines, maps, interactive screens, models, recreations, and video mappings, allowing them to experience the spatial and temporal dimensions of the land Jesus walked through.
Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm
Emmaus Trail
Hiking from Saxum
Do you want to follow the Road to Emmaus that Jesus walked with the two disciples?
A biblical and historical trail of 20 kilometers from Saxum Visitor Center to Emmaus-Nicopolis.
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The Holy Land: A Window into Jesus’ Life
Just over a year ago, I had the joy of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land for the second time, staying at the Saxum Conference Center near Jerusalem. In two parts, I would like to share some personal experiences from that unforgettable pilgrimage. The title itself...
Saxum: A Place of Peace, Faith, and Hope Amid Uncertainty
My stay in Jerusalem as a trainee at the Saxum Visitor Center marked a turning point in my life, especially because it took place in three very different moments: before, during, and after the war. Before the conflict broke out, my experience was filled with discovery...
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Church of the Multiplication (Tabgha): Corpus Christi
Very close to the Sea of Galilee, this is the place in which Tradition says Jesus performed the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.
International
Saxum around the World
Thanks to the work of many Advisors, Saxum International Foundation promotes
activities related to the Holy Land from various regions of the world.
You can also take part in this project!
It is worth it, be not afraid, it is a sign of hope
From September 6 to 12, I participated in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a group of friends from Poland and Italy. I must admit that before leaving, I had doubts about whether it was a good decision to attend. But during the journey, those doubts completely disappeared. I am deeply convinced that it was a good decision, and I would very much like to return, even in a tense situation like the one on those days.
The group with Card. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
I was particularly struck by a walk through Jerusalem on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 10. For me, as a Catholic and a priest, the Holy Mass, recalling the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, is of vital importance. While walking through the city, in the area adjacent to the Western Wall (the so-called Wailing Wall), an idea came to me that allowed me to understand the Holy Mass more deeply.
It was an ordinary day, a workday, but around the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, which Jesus had the opportunity to see, there was an atmosphere of celebration, great joy, and piety. At the wall, many Orthodox Jews were praying, some reciting the Holy Scriptures, others praying while leaning against the wall. The women’s section was even more crowded than the men’s. Shouts of joy and songs could be heard.
Currently, the Dome of the Rock, with its famous golden dome, stands where the Second Temple once was. This dome marks the rock on which Abraham was to sacrifice his son Isaac. For Muslims, this place is sacred because it was from here that Muhammad was taken up to heaven.
The group at the St. Saviour Monastry wih Fr. Alberto Pari
In the Jewish religion, the only place of worship to God, the place of sacrifice and, therefore, the connection between earth and Heaven, was the Temple of Jerusalem. When the temple was destroyed by Titus, it marked the end of the sacrifices and prayers in the temple of the Jewish religion as we know it from the pages of the Holy Scriptures.
The tearing of the temple veil at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross signifies the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New. The temple is no longer a building on earth, no matter how majestic and beautiful, but the Person of Jesus Christ, God and Man, in whom the perfect worship of the Father is fulfilled. However, this temple is not closed off to us. Every person, through the sacraments, each of us through participation in the Holy Mass, can join in this sacrifice and worship God with our whole life, in spirit and truth.
And if the Jews at the Western Wall are so joyful, so devout, before something that is only a memory of their temple, how much more should we rejoice in the opportunity to participate in the Holy Mass, and how much more should our lives be filled with joy.
Mass at the Church of Holy Sepulcher
This reflection relates to the observation of how many young people we met: families with small children, pregnant women, children, teenagers. And they were joyful people; you could tell they were not afraid of life. I connect this with my reflection on the temple and the Holy Mass. If they, who do not have our Christian faith, do not fear new life, which is something wonderful but also involves sacrifice, if they do not fear looking to the future with hope, how much more should we, who have discovered God’s love for us, not fear life, not fear giving ourselves, not fear giving generously of ourselves. This is a call to all to live their lives fully dedicated to God, which translates into concrete service to others. These thoughts came to me in connection with a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I recommend it to all Christians. It is a wonderful opportunity to deepen faith and share it in life.
By Stanislaw Urmanski, priest