The building dominates the centre of Nazareth, its cupola shaped like an inverted lily rising above the roofs of the old town. Beneath it, the lower church is built around the grotto that Christian tradition identifies as the house of the Virgin and the place of the Annunciation, with remains of the successive Byzantine and Crusader sanctuaries visible on either side. The upper church, reached from the courtyard, is a vast modern space whose walls carry mosaics and panels of the Virgin and Child offered by Catholic communities from every continent, each in its own visual idiom, so that the interior becomes a survey of how Mary is imagined around the world. Consecrated in 1969, it is the largest church in the Middle East. Filmed in 4K, the programme covers architecture, archaeology and pilgrimage in a single title.
