Main Plaza

Main Plaza

View looking north northwest from the "main square" in downtown Nazareth.  Note the dome of the Basilica of the Annunciation and on the left, the green and black and white Muslim signs.

The Muslims claim that the nephew of Saladin, Shihab-Eddin, is buried under the green dome near the center of the image.  In the late 1990's and early 2000's the Muslims attempted to build a mosque, with huge multiple minarets in this area.  It would have towered over the largest Christian Church in the Middle East—the Basilica of the Annunciation.  In 2002 the Israeli government, at the request of the Catholic Church, halted construction of the mosque and turned the area into a plaza.

Note on the left side of the image the signs posted by the Muslims—the green (not-so-subtle) one citing a verse from the Quran.