Image Details

Garo Nalbandian

The image-destroyers did not confine their work to mosaic floors. Churches in Pella, Umm al-Rasas and Jerash (shown here) had their chancel screens defaced or torn down; here, too, sacred images depicting Christ, the Virgin Mary or Christian saints and martyrs were left in place. In all, only three churches in Palestine remained undamaged, perhaps because they were in isolated locations—in the Sinai or near the Dead Sea.