STE-FAMILLE CHURCH

The Church of the Holy Family was probably built by the Crusaders in the ^12th century, on an ancient Byzantine structure erected, according to Christian tradition, on the spot where Joseph and Mary are said to have stopped on their way to Jerusalem after realizing that the Infant Jesus had disappeared from the pilgrim caravan. The ruins of the church, destroyed in 1187 by Saladin, remain. According to Islamic tradition, Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab passed through Al-Bireh on his way from Medina to Jerusalem and prayed there, where a mosque now stands.