The sight of the Convent of Hortus Conclusus (The Sealed Gardens) is breathtaking, set as it is against a backdrop of mountains, with a picturesque stone bridge stretching over the verdant Artas Valley to the old core of the village of Artas. While there has been much immigration from the Bethlehem area to Latin America, the church is a result of influence from the other direction. It is inhabited by an Italian order of nuns who had established themselves in Latin America. It was built by engineers from Bethlehem’s Morcos family in 1901, at the request of Mgr. Soler Archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay, with an orphanage and a dispensary added to it in 1903. The convent is believed to be on the site of King Solomon’s Gardens, and the name of the convent, derives from Solomon’s Song in which King Solomon speaks of his beloved saying: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed a fountain sealed up. The plants are a paradise of pomegranates” (IV 12-13). According to Josephus, the Roman historian, King Solomon, escorted by his armed guards, used to go every day at dawn to enjoy the abundance of the running waters located in the middle of the gardens. The otherwise quiet Convent comes alive on the Feast of Hortus Conclusus, which takes place the third Sunday of August.