Forgiveness: a necessary dialogue in the Middle EastThe economy and tourism are returning to a reopening phase in Israel. Significant progress in vaccinating Israelis is beginning to bring optimism and a smile back to a country that has seen around 750,000 infections and more than 5,000 deaths in a year.
Reopening of hotels
In addition, it has been announced that hotels in the country will reopen on March 7, and a digital vaccination certificate has been launched, which will also be used to access hotels from now on, for overnight stays only for the time being.
In 2019, 4.5 million people visited Israel, 10.6 percent more than the previous year. An upswing that was broken in 2020 due to the pandemic, and which may now begin to recover.
In this context of a gradual return to normality, the Israel Tourism Office in Spain, whose director is Dolores Pérez Frías, has presented Saxum Visitor Centera multimedia space that helps pilgrims to better understand the biblical history and the Holy Places, which has come to be called "the fifth gospel".
Saxum Visitor Center
Opened in 2019 in the town of Abu Ghosh, half an hour from Jerusalem, Saxum is located on the Road to Emmaus, and gives the pilgrim the opportunity to have an encounter with Jesus, as did his disciples, and walk a path of about 20-21 kilometers, adaptable to any itinerary, as if it were a stage of the Camino de Santiago, for example.
Saxum offers maps, models and descriptions of the Holy Places in different time periods, as well as touch screens and 4D projections, and multimedia tours explaining the historical, biblical and geographical elements of sacred history, from Abraham to the present day.
The visit to Saxum which lasts approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, serves in a special way to contextualize the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Friar Luis Qintana OFM, who attended the webinar, pointed out that he sees it as preferable to visit the spaceSaxum after the visit to the Holy Places. "This I have seen, now I understand it better. The visit to Saxum helps to make a synthesis of the pilgrimage. It is a good stop, which seems better to make at the end", noted.
The session was also attended by Manuel Cimadevillabussiness manager, and the director of Saxum, Almudena Romero. "The historical approach is important to understand what we have known. This multimedia space is there to help you understand the Holy Land, and this changes your life."said Almudena Romero. The tour of Saxum is multisensory and guided, at a price of 3 euros (approximately 4 dollars) per person. Romero reminded us of the importance of giving advance notice through [email protected] to make reservations and be better served.
During question time, Almudena Romero explained that the name of the multimedia center, saxum (rock in Spanish), is due to the fact that Blessed Alvaro del Portillo made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1994, and upon his return to Rome, he died that same night. He had celebrated his last Mass in the Cenacle Chapel, and was called "the rock of the Holy Land". saxum by St. Josemaría, founder of Opus Dei.
