Mount Carmel: Carmelite Monastery

‎At the northern edge of Mount Carmel stands the largest monastery of the Carmelite Order and the center of its activities. Overlooking the sea, it is befittingly named Stella Maris—the Star of the Sea. The Carmelites believe that the cloud that rose from the sea “like a man’s hand” (I Kings 18:44) after a period of drought symbolizes the Virgin Mary, to whom the monastery is also dedicated. The present monastery, completed in 1836, was built over the remains of previous churches from the Byzantine and Crusader periods. In the courtyard, opposite the entrance, stands a monument commemorating French soldiers who died in the monastery when its first floor served as a hospital for Napoleon’s soldiers in 1799 during his siege of Acco.