No region in history has been a battleground more often than Palestine. Beginning 3,000 years ago when the united tribes of Israel claimed Palestine, through its conquest by the Romans, during the years of the Crusades, and up to the present day, the struggle for control of this land has brought strife and hatred among its peoples.

Antonio Barluzzi, architect and engineer, was drawn to this land of unrest because he felt that only in the birthplace of Christianity could he create the works of art of which he dreamed.

An Italian from Rome, Barluzzi had from childhood been surrounded by beautiful and grand architecture. He felt it a mission to combine his knowledge of this beauty with the magnificence of Moslem and Jewish art in the Middle East. He was to find, however, that in a land so torn with prejudice and conflict his path would be blocked at almost every turn. Against the great odds of two world wars, a civil war, lack of materials, the climate, and quarrels among his workers, he fought to see his dream come true. Barluzzi left in his wake a deep and lasting mark on the face of Palestine with his churches and shrines and proved that Moslem, Christian and Jew can work together for the glory of God.

This is not just the story of a great architect. It is more a trip through the past and present of the Holy Land as seen through the eyes of a master builder. Few books for young people give so clear a picture of the Holy Land as well as telling the exciting and adventurous story of a man whose mission it was to build beauty.

From the dust jacket