At first glance, you might understandably think this is Mary with Jesus, but that’s not the case. This is a statue of Anne (Mary’s mother) with her young daughter located in the Church of Sainte Anne in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The church itself is a Crusader church built somewhere between 1131 and 1138AD. In 1187, when the Muslim Sultan Saladin took control of Jerusalem, the church was converted to an Islamic Law School (an inscription at the entrance remains from 1192AD).

The church’s acoustics, designed for Georgian chant, are marvelous, and the voices of visitors can often be heard here.

How the image was created

This is a two-exposure fusion created using photomatix. Topaz Denoise was used for noise reduction, and Topaz InFocus was used for most of the detail adjustment.