When the newly renovated galleries at the Israel Museum opened in July, visitors were treated to the first public viewing of a magnificent 12th-century fresco from the Gethsemane Courtyard in Jerusalem. The painting, which measures almost 20.5 feet long by 9 feet high, is the largest ever found in an Israel excavation. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), under the direction of Jerusalem region archaeologist Jon Seligman, conducted excavations in Nahal Kidron, next to the Garden of Gethsemane, in 1999. They uncovered several buildings dating to the 12th century, which were part of the Abbey of St. Mary of the […]
