According to Greek Orthodox tradition, the Annunciation took place while Mary was fetching water from the spring situated directly under this richly frescoed, 17th-century church (other denominations hold that she was at home during the Annunciation). The barrel-vaulted crypt , first constructed under Constantine (4th century CE), shelters Nazareth’s only year-round spring, a place everyone in the village obviously visited often. Check out the centuries-old graffiti carved around the outside doorway.
