About us

Saxum Visitor Center

Knowledge of the Holy Land

About Saxum Visitor Center

Saxum Visitor Center is a multimedia resource center that helps visitors to deepen their knowledge of the Holy Land in an interactive way.

The guided visit offers a tour through the main events of sacred history, where the historical, geographical, and biblical contexts are brought together. The experience covers the heritage of the Holy Land from Abraham to the present day, going through the holy places across multiple historical periods.

Visitors are immersed in the living story through various resources such as a timeline, maps, interactive screens, 3D reconstructions, a model of Jerusalem, and a 360 degree movie screen.

Saxum Visitor Center is owned by Saxum Ltd (CC).

Cultural and spiritual experience

Vision

Saxum Visitor Center began from a desire to bring the Holy Land closer to people from all over the world and to enhance the cultural and spiritual experiences of all those who visit, regardless of their beliefs, origin or cultural background.

Pilgrims to the Holy Land will discover an exceptional way to relive and integrate their entire trip. Tour guides can use the Center as a tool to support their explanations in a visual way. For any visitor, it will be an experience of the different dimensions of the historical and spiritual heritage of this land.

Tour guides play an essential role in making pilgrimages deep and meaningful experiences. For this reason, Saxum Visitor Center hosts specialized, topical courses throughout the year as our commitment to the formation of tour guides.

The land that Jesus trod

Inspiration

This project is promoted by members, cooperators, and friends of Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church whose message reminds us that professional work and ordinary life can become the place where we encounter God, serve others, and society as a whole.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902 – 1975), the founder of Opus Dei, used the name “Saxum” -Latin for rock- to refer to Blessed Alvaro del Portillo, his closest collaborator and first successor, to underline his fidelity and fortitude. Despite not being able to fulfill his dream of going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, St. Josemaría hoped that others, any Christian who shared in his desire, would be able to “pray, kneel and kiss the ground that Jesus trod.”

In March 1994, Monsignor Del Portillo travelled on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where on the 23rd he celebrated what would be his last mass in the chapel of the Cenacle. He passed away that same day just a few hours after his arrival in Rome.

That year, inspired by the desire of St. Josemaria and in memory of Álvaro del Portillo, some members of Opus Dei, along with other supporters, began to conceive the Saxum project. This initiative came to fruition thanks to the generous donations and work of many people from all over the world. In addition to the Visitor Center, Saxum has a Conference Center, where many formation activities are organized. The spiritual assistance of these activities is entrusted to the Prelature of Opus Dei.

Saxum Visitor Center was officially opened on 7 February 2019, with civil and religious authorities in attendance as well as friends and supporters of the project.

Intercultural dialogue

Saxum International Foundation

Saxum International Foundation is a nonprofit organization registered in Italy. It aims to offer people from all over the world the possibility of reaching a personal encounter with God through a deeper and historical knowledge of the holy places in which Jesus lived, preached and acted. It promotes interreligious and intercultural dialogue through the common heritage that the Holy Land represents and collaborates with Saxum Visitor Center by promoting its programs and events in different countries through a network of Advisors.

Saxum International Foundation began the project by looking for the necessary funds to develop the Center. Thanks to the generosity of many donors from different countries, the dream of Saint Josemaría is today a reality.

The Foundation regularly organizes the Holy Land Dialogues, a one-week program in the land of Jesus that combines the visits to the holy places along with a workshop dedicated to dialogue. The participants, coming from countries all over the world, discuss with experts, in a unique environment, the different perspectives and dimensions of the culture of dialogue.