Catholic Carmelite convent of the Pater Noster (Latin for "our father") is devoted to the main prayer of all Christians. Its location on the mount of olives for a reason – tradition believes that it was here that Jesus taught how to pray to the Father in Heaven.

Particular point in the New Testament is not specified: Matthew writes that Christ went up into a mountain, Luke, and even says it happened "in one place". Definitely we can only say that the text is the most important prayer came to them directly from Jesus: "you should Pray: our father, who art in heaven! hallowed be Your name; may Your Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; our daily bread give us this day; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:9-13).

The tradition to believe that Jesus taught the apostles in a grotto on the mount of olives, was strengthened when the crusaders, in the eleventh century. Earlier, in the fourth century by the Emperor Constantine had built a majestic three-tiered Church in memory of the Ascension of Christ. It was called Eleonas (from the Greek word "Eleonas" – "olive grove"). From the Church, destroyed by the Persians in the seventh century, there were only fragments of the mosaic floor. A small temple, built in the XII century by brothers Svensene from Denmark, too, has not survived – was destroyed by the Mamluks.

The revival of Christian traditions started on these ruins in the late nineteenth century, when the platform, where stood the mount of olives, bought a French Princess of Italian descent, Aurelia de La Tour d'auvergne. She began active excavations and the search for the remnants of Eleona, but quickly realized that it is better to build a new structure. The Princess was very fond of "our father" and wanted to build not only the Church but also the monastery as evidence of constant prayer. The Carmelite convent in this beautiful place, boasting magnificent views of Jerusalem and the Dead sea, was opened in 1874. A sample was taken of the structure of the monumental cemetery Camposanto in Pisa.

Princess Aurelia died in 1889 in Florence, but wanted to be buried in the monastery. The white marble sarcophagus with the figure of the deceased Aurelia the work of French sculptor Jean-Auguste Barra stands at the entrance to the monastery Church of the Pater Noster.

To the monastery of tourists are not allowed, but you can visit the sanctuary and the grotto where, according to tradition, Jesus talked with his disciples, and a wide open space, framed by the rubble. This unfinished Church of the sacred Heart, which the French government began to build in 1920 and never finished. And here, inside the Abbey Church are ceramic plates with the text "our father" in different languages – more than 140, and the number increases all the time. In the tabernacle behind the altar (she catches the eye against the lowly white walls of the temple) carved the text of the prayer in Latin: Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen she was the first...