Church of St. Mary Magdalene

About Church of St. Mary Magdalene

Church building in East Jerusalem

The Church of Mary Magdalene is a Russian Orthodox church on the western slope of the Mount of Olives in Al-Quds, across the Kidron Valley from the Old City and close to the Garden of Gethsemane. Its seven gilded onion domes are visible from far away and make it one of the most photographed landmarks on the mount and one of the finest churches in Palestine. Tsar Alexander III built it in 1885 in memory of his mother, the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, whose patron saint was Mary Magdalene, the disciple whom the Gospels describe as the first to see Jesus after the Resurrection. The Tsar's sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, was buried here after she was killed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. The church belongs to the Convent of St Mary Magdalene (the Gethsemane convent), a sisterhood founded in 1936 under the Russian Orthodox Church. Visiting hours are very limited, so most travellers admire it from the Mount of Olives road or from the Old City walls opposite.

Where:

Jerusalem, Palestine