Bethany lies over the ridge from Jerusalem, on the road that descends towards Jericho, and the Gospel accounts place there the household of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and the raising of Lazarus from the tomb. A narrow staircase cut into the rock still leads down to the burial chamber venerated as his. Beside it, the present church, built in the middle of the twentieth century, is a compact domed space kept deliberately dim, its mosaics recounting the episode; excavation around it has revealed the plans of the Byzantine and Crusader churches that occupied the site before, one built over another. The programme films the sanctuary, the tomb and the village setting in 4K, and belongs naturally alongside titles on the Mount of Olives and the sanctuaries of the Jerusalem area.
