In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest places for Christians in Jerusalem, under reconstruction. The restoration started in order to preserve the place where many believe Jesus rose from the dead.
In a place called “little house”, or Latin for “aedicule”, the restorers worked for about a year.
Professor Antonia Moropoulou control over the project.
“This project has become for us a huge challenge. We needed to ensure the sustainability of the building,” she says.
The last restoration was about 100 years ago and have not yet started work, no one understood the risks posed by a building.
“In fact, the building was on the verge of destruction. It was only thanks to the forests that stood here more than 50 years,” says the former President of the world monuments Fund Bonnie Burnham.
The British established the forest in 1947. This team went on, it strengthened the structure and removed the forest.
“So, this is a complete transformation of the monument, now it’s how it should be in our time,” continues Bonnie Burnham.
CBN news got a rare opportunity to show the inner part of edikuly. Many believe that this niche is surrounding the most Holy place of the Christians. Under a marble slab is an empty tomb, which is believed to have been buried Jesus and then resurrected.
“That empty grave is truly something special. Not in itself, but because of our faith in Jesus, that He died, was buried in a cave and rose again,” – explains the Professor of Christian archaeology father Eugenio Alliata.
According to many Christian pilgrims the opportunity to visit the place where Jesus was changing their lives.
“I couldn’t even imagine how beautiful it is to understand that Jesus was here,” says the pilgrim Stanley Beress.
“It’s in every movement. It is something special, and I share that with my Father. I can’t describe it,” says pilgrim Lisa close.
Inside the Church, under the aedicule, the team Moropoulou found the soil is so unstable that it could lead to disaster. Now they hope that further recovery will save this place for many years.
The work of the churches is another example of how the present and the past intersect in the land of Israel.
Another story about how Israeli archaeologists have found thousands of artifacts, and where they send them out to explore. Here’s what we found.
“This is the place where at the end of the day put all the archaeological finds of the country,” shows the head of the archaeological team Gideon Avni, the contents of the Department of treasure.
We managed to see only part of the many artifacts. For example, large jugs of water, similar to those in which Jesus turned water into wine.
“Here we can see things similar to those that were in use during the period of Jesus’ life. Vessels that were used in Israeli homes in Jerusalem, various large and small vessels, pottery,” says chief curator of the Department of treasure Debora Ben AMI.
“Spending about 300 excavations a year, we find 30 to 40 thousand new artifacts,” continued Gideon Avni.
Archaeologist Gideon Avni says that excavations over the past 20-30 years has expanded our knowledge about life in the time of Christ.
“Today, we can recreate what happened with an ordinary man in the time of Christ, from the moment of his birth until the moment of death,” – said the archaeologist.
A rare find – a stone from the synagogue at Magdala, home of Mary Magdalene, where Jesus could preach. And recently when workers were expanding the main road between Jerusalem and tel Aviv, archaeologists have found nine ancient coins.
“These coins indicate one of the main aspects of Christian pilgrimage to the Holy land, where tens of thousands of people came from all over the world at all times. They’re coming here to continue on the path of Christ. The roads that lead to Jerusalem,” continues the story of the archaeologist.
Although archaeologists are not in a hurry to claim that their discovery confirms the Bible, but they believe that it gives an understanding of the circumstances of life in Biblical times.
“The first book of the New Testament. And archaeology confirms the stories and descriptions of the Gospels and provides evidence of,” says Gideon Avni.
If you have no opportunity to go to Israel, soon you will be able to see online how these artifacts reveal about the history of the biblical lands.