Bethphage takes its name from the fig, and the village on the far side of the Mount of Olives has kept its rural character longer than the slopes facing the city. The Franciscan church here commemorates the episode that opens Holy Week: the moment when, according to the Gospels, Jesus set out from this village to enter Jerusalem, greeted by crowds with palm branches. Inside, a large painted block of stone preserved from the medieval period is associated by tradition with that departure. Once a year the church becomes the assembly point for the Palm Sunday procession, which crosses the ridge and descends the western slope towards the walls, gathering thousands of pilgrims. Filmed in 4K, the programme covers both the quiet of the sanctuary and the day it fills, and suits strands on Jerusalem, Holy Week and living pilgrimage.
