Kiryat Yearim ("City of Woods") is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the residence of the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 7:2) until King David conveyed it to Jerusalem. According to Christian tradition, the hill of Kiryat Yearim was sanctified. The site is located on a hill near the modern village of Abu Gosh, on the road to Jerusalem. The present Catholic Church of Notre Dame de l'Arche d'Alliance (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant) and convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition were built here in 1924 over the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church that was destroyed during the Persian occupation in 614. A large statue of the Virgin Mary stands in the courtyard of the church. It was designed to be visible from every direction in the complex.
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