The largest medieval altar rediscovered at historic Jerusalem church

Historians are calling it a great sensation. The largest known medieval altar has been discovered in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It had been considered lost for decades.

The 3.4-metre-wide altar was made for the reconsecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on July 15, 1149, on the 50th anniversary of the Crusaders' conquest of Jerusalem. At that time, the church, one of the most important Christian sanctuaries, underwent a thorough reconstruction and acquired a Romanesque style, including a new main altar.

"In 1808, there was a major fire in the Romanesque part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," said Ilya Berkovich, a historian from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), who, along with archaeologist Amit Reem from the Israel Antiquities Authority, discovered the relic.

During restoration work, a multi-ton stone slab was moved away from the wall in the publicly accessible part of the basilica's rear corridor. On its reverse side, scientists discovered rich geometric ornaments that allowed them to identify the slab as the front part of a 12th-century medieval altar.

Historians are calling the discovery a sensation for several reasons. Firstly, the artifact remained unidentified in a church that specialists had thoroughly studied and visited by thousands of pilgrims and tourists for a very long time. The back side of the slab was even covered in graffiti by visitors.

Secondly, the discovered geometric decorations show that the altar must have been adorned using a technique employed by Cosmati artists, who worked in Rome in the 12th and 13th centuries. There are only a few known examples of artifacts from their school outside Italy.

Berkovich emphasized that by sending one of the Cosmati masters to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Pope thus paid homage to the holiest church of Christianity. Therefore, the newly rediscovered altar would be evidence of previously unknown direct links between Rome and Jerusalem, which is significant for European art history.