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View of the only rectangular capital called the "Fides–Ecclesia."
The central capital shows a scene that has been open to several interpretations and represents a crowned woman holding a cross, while she travels to the left accompanied by a barefoot man among figures of the devil.
Some academics see the scene as the Byzantine theme of the liberation of Adam through the decent of Christ to the underworld. On the other hand, others identify the crowned woman with the Church Mother, holding the hand of an apostle, helping him to stand up to temptations, represented by the demons armed with bows and ready to shoot their arrows.
The capital is made of high quality "sultan" stone. The background surface is rough while the figures are very smooth.
Five, apparently unused, capitals from the Crusader Period were discovered in the early 1800's by Father Viaud in a grotto north of the Basilica of the Annunciation. They depict episodes from the cannonical apostles and from apocryphal writings regarding the life of the apostles.
Most information from the Custodia Terrae Sanctae: Sanctuary Nazareth.
