Jesus' hometown: A new vision

The storied hamlet of Jesus' youth comes alive at Nazareth Village, an archaeological reconstruction a mere 500 meters from the present-day city in northern Israel. Based on the research of more than a dozen scholars, the exhibit provides a setting for Jesus' life and teachings.

Four rooms take a visitor back in time, through the Ottoman period into the Roman epoch. That gives way to a "Parable Walk," with a small farm, a winepress, a loom, quarries and other first century trades.

The online photos are interesting, showing skills like weaving and olive harvesting. Also check out the construction shots -- with details like the channeling of rainwater from roofs into cisterns.

There's also a thought-provoking essay on the symbolism of bread in its 253 biblical references. Looks like it's from an abandoned e-zine, though; the article is from 2006.

The Web site server isn't very fast; if a page has a lot of pictures, you'll have to wait several seconds for it to load. More annoying: When you hit a back button, you don't return to the previous page -- you go back to the one before that.

Clear goal of the village is peace through understanding. It's a message embedded in the emblem: an oil lamp over "Nazareth Village" in English, Hebrew and Arabic.