Archaeologists make remarkable discovery at Christianity’s holiest site — covered up by graffiti
A 🐠long-lost altar dating from the times of the Crusades was discovered hidden in plain sight by archaeologists at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — one of the holiest sites in Christi🧸anity, where Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead.
The stunning discovery was first made when 𓆉construction workers overturned a massive stone slab leaning against a wall in the church that had been sitting there for♚ an unknown amount of time, .
The several-ton hunk of marble was in a publicly accessible corridor in the rear of the church🥀 and was even covered in graffiti.
The other side of the s൲tone was magnificently decorated and identified the slab as the front panel of the altar used by Crusaders in the Middle Ages, from when it was consecrated in 1149 until it🌌 vanished from history when a massive fire destroyed part of the church hundreds of years later.
“We know of pilgrim accounts from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries about a magnificent marble altar in Jerusalem,” said Ilya Berkovich, historian at the Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
“In 1808, there was a major fire in the Romanesque part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” says Berkovich. “Since then, the Crusaders’ altar was lost — at least that’s what people thought for a long time.”
The Austrian Academy of Sciences said the find was “sensatio♏nal,” though it begs the question how such an important relic could remain hidden from academics’ eyes in one of the most intensely researched🔯 buildings in Christianity.
“The fact that something so important could stand unrecognized in this of all places was completely unexpected for all concerned,” said Berkovich.
The unique ornamentation on the altar was in the “Cosmatesque” style, named after the Cosmati family in papal Rome, who passed their sto🍌neworking skills down through several generations.
Cosmatesque art♛, which was a status symbol for the papacy, consisted of piecing small recycled pieces of marble scraped from other ancient buildings togethཧer to create complex geometric patterns, according to historians.
The only pieꩵce of Cosmatesque art still in existence outside Italy is in the United Kingdom’s Westminster Abbey, wher🧸e the pope had sent an artist.
Historians believe that the altar in Jerusalem was created with the pope’s blessing to honor Christianity’s holiest church and support Christianit🐻y’s claim t﷽o the city, which Crusaders had conquered in 1099.
“The pope thus paid tribute to the holiest church in Christianity,” Berkovich said.
The altar, at more than 11 feet long, is the largest mediဣeval altar know✅n, he said.
Berkovich and his team hope that additional resear💞ch will reveal 🌠which Cosmatesque master was behind the work.
