The creation of a museum center for “Telling the Story of the Holy Land” by promoting knowledge of the history of Christianity in these sites and by providing information on the Franciscan presence and the work currently being carried out by the Custody: a project aimed at taking an inventory, recording and preserving an age-old heritage. An initiative, promoted by the Custody of the Holy Land and supported by ATS Pro Terra Sancta, that arises out of the need to maintain not only the \u201cliving stones\u201d of the Holy Land, but also to preserve the “stones of memory\u201d. \u201cJerusalem is the Holy City. It is holy for Hebrews, Muslims and also for Christians. The important thing for us is to preserve the Christian character of the Holy City and to make it known that it has a clear Christian past and present,\u201d explains Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Numerous activities are being carried out thanks to the assistance of a number of qualified archaeologists who have come to the Holy Land, with the aim of enhancing the archival, documentary, historical and artistic elements of the cultural heritage that the Custody’s Franciscan Brothers have taken care of for eight centuries in the name of all Christianity. And an ultimate desire: the creation of a modern Christian museum center in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Custody has thought of a visitor center that would make known the past and present of Christian Jerusalem. We have identified the site here at the entrance of the New Gate and now we must also identify the lines, the character that this center must have. And we hope that in the near future there will also arise in Jerusalem a center of knowledge of the Christian reality of this beautiful city,\u201d says the Custos of the Holy Land. An integrated complex of communications and cultural production, aimed at pilgrims, tourists, scholars and the local population, in order to make better known \u2013 by means of guided tours \u2013 the story of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the Custody’s experience in preserving the traces of the presence of Christ and of the first Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n