Homage to the Incarnation

Like Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Nazareth is one of the holiest places in Christendom, but it has never enjoyed quite the same awe that the other two names evoke. For Christians, it is the town where Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of God, the town where Jesus grew up. But even in Biblical times it suffered from a bad press. When the apostle Philip told Nathanael that the Messiah had come from Nazareth, the Gospel of John reports, the incredulous answer was, "Can anything good come out of that place?" In modern times, tourist buses have generally stopped only long enough for the passengers to buy carved wooden camels and make a quick trip to the grotto where tradition says that the Annunciation took place.

White Limestone. At long last, Nazareth can offer good reason for a longer stay. Rising over the grotto is the new Basilica of the Incarnation and Church of the Annunciation, a double-decked, $2,000,000 building of dressed white Nazareth limestone that took 15 years to plan and build. Paid for by worldwide donations and built under the supervision of the Franciscan fathers, the new basilica is the largest Christian house of worship in the Middle East (capacity 3,000). Reflecting the long history of the sacred site, its lower church incorporates pillars, walls and an altar from several buildings--a 5th century Byzantine church, a 13th century Crusader basilica and an 18th century Franciscan church--that previously stood on the site. Despite the impressive work of Italian Architect Giovanni Muzio on the basilica itself, the feature that drew the largest crowds at consecration ceremonies last week was the great bronze doors in its southern portico (see facing page), designed by Connecticut Sculptor Fred Shrady.

Shrady, 61, has been described as a "modern conservative," and the phrase aptly describes the neoclassical character of his doors. The twelve panels tell the story of the life, death and heavenly triumph of Mary, from her birth to St. Anne and her presentation in the temple (lower lefthand panels) through her Assumption into heaven, and ultimate veneration as Mother of the Church. The figures are angular, lean and ascetic, suggesting portraits by El Greco. Shrady cast forty individual hands for the work, because he believes that they "express everything."

Special Feeling. Selected over 23 other competitors, Shrady is no stranger to religious sculpture. His striking figure of Lazarus rising from the dead stands in front of the St. Lazarus Oratory near the Pittsburgh Airport. A 25-ft. bronze of an ectomorphic St. Peter casting his net will soon stand in New York's Lincoln Center just across from the Metropolitan Opera House. A convert to Roman Catholicism, Shrady does secular commissions as well, but admits "I have a special feeling for religious art." He received only $28,000, well below his usual fee, for the Nazareth doors--but they may remain on public display a lot longer than some of his other works. One Israeli architect estimates that the new basilica ought to last at least 1,000 years.

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