History of the Supposed House of Joseph and the Virgin from the 1st Century to the 2006 Study

Pictured: the house traditionally regarded as the home of Joseph and the Virgin Mary. Well, the monument does indeed date from the 1st century AD: one wall of the house survives in full, along with part of the floor and a doorway. The walls of the dwelling were hewn out of the limestone rock and lined inside with brickwork. The place was venerated as early as Byzantine times, when a church in honour of Joseph the Betrothed was built over the little house, and the chamber itself was richly decorated with mosaics. Since then the churches on this spot have been repeatedly pulled down (in the 8th and 13th centuries) and rebuilt (in the 12th and 17th). No precise information about Joseph's house existed until the end of the 19th century, when the nuns of the convent above it made an attempt at excavation and themselves uncovered the stone chambers. In 1936 the site was described in detail, but again by a priest rather than by professionals. As a result, the scholarly community gained access to the supposed house of Joseph only in 2006, and it was established that the house had been abandoned by its occupants at that very time, in the 1st century, after which a quarry operated on its site