Church of the Pater Noster Religious Site

The Church of the Pater Noster is a church and shrine on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem associated with the Lord’s Prayer. It is notable for its cloister and walls that display the Pater Noster in many languages on tiles and plaques.

The site stands over a tradition that associates the Mount of Olives with teachings of Jesus, and the modern church complex incorporates both historic remains and later constructions. Pilgrims and visitors come to see the multilingual inscriptions and to visit the adjoining grotto and prayer spaces.

The present complex replaces and incorporates earlier Byzantine and Crusader-era structures and has been rebuilt or adapted in later centuries by various Christian communities. It functions as both a devotional site and a place visited on the Mount of Olives pilgrimage circuit.

The church is located on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem’s Old City, among other pilgrimage sites and with views back toward the city.

• Multilingual plaques: The walls and corridors display the Lord’s Prayer in over a hundred languages on plaques and tiles, making it a multilingual devotional site.

The Church of the Pater Noster sits on the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem’s Old City. From Lion’s Gate in the Old City it is an uphill walk of roughly 15-25 minutes (about 1-1.5 km) along the Mount of Olives road; by car or taxi it’s typically a 5-10 minute drive from the Old City. The site is also reachable by taxi from central Jerusalem (roughly 3-4 km / a few minutes depending on traffic).

• Visit early in the morning for quieter access and soft light over the Old City from the Mount of Olives - most tour groups arrive later in the day.
• Walk the cloister slowly to find the many plaques with the Lord's Prayer in different languages; these multilingual tiles are the site's defining feature and are easy to miss in a quick visit.
• Combine your stop with the nearby Mount of Olives viewpoint and the Garden of Gethsemane/Dominus Flevit area to make a single circuit of the eastern hill rather than returning later when crowds swell.