Admission is free

The "Cave of the Milk" is a religious shrine believed to be a place where Mary nursed Jesus, according to various traditions in ancient and modern Palestine.

The limestone rock of the cave is white, and the dirt floor is made of a fine whitish powder, treated as a sacred relic dubbed "Mary’s milk."

This cave or grotto sits outside the city of Bethlehem, not far from the Church of the Nativity. Its local name in Arabic is Meharet-es Sitti (Cave of Our Lady) also known as the “Grotto of the Virgin" or "Saint Nicholas Church" for the chapel that stands above it which was part of a former Greek Orthodox monastery.

The Friars Minor purchased the grotto with the permission of Pope Gregory XI in 1375, and built a church with a bell tower there. This first edifice was replaced in 1872, and a second time in 2007.

Today the grotto is open to the public with no admission cost. The place is popular with women of all religions: Christian, Jews (who came before the "wall"), and Muslim women.

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