Painted Dome – Stella Maris Monastery, Haifa, Israel

The Stella Maris Monastery, or the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, is a 19th-century Discalced (i.e., shoeless) Carmelite monastery located on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.

The first monastery on this site dates to the Crusader rule of the region in the 12th century during which time groups of religious hermits began to inhabit the caves of this area in imitation of Elijah the Prophet. This ancient structure and several other subsequent ones have been erected and destroyed according to the vicissitudes of politics and religion. The current church and monastery, built under the orders of Brother Cassini of the Order, was opened in 1836. Three years later Pope Gregory XVI bestowed the title of Minor Basilica on the sanctuary, and it is now known "Stella Maris", meaning Star of the Sea. For much of the 20th Century it was occupied by the Military, first the British, and later the Israeli, but at the end of their lease it was handed back to the Order.

The monastery’s main church resembles the shape of a cross. Its dome is decorated by colorful paintings based on motifs from both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles: Elijah rising to heaven, David stringing his harp, the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Family and the four evangelists. Latin inscriptions of biblical verses are written around the dome. The altar stands on an elevated platform situated above a small cave associated with Elijah. The cave can be reached from the nave by descending a few steps and holds a stone altar with a small statue of Prophet Elijah. The altar above the cave is dominated by a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus in her lap, known as "our mistress the Carmel".