Largest medieval altar rediscovered in Jerusalem church

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

The 11-foot-wide altar was made for the reconsecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on July 15, 1149, marking 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, acquiring 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. Since then, the Crusader’s altar was lost - at least that's what people thought for a long time," 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 artifact.

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 of Italy.

"By sending one of the Cosmatesque masters to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to make the new high altar in Christianity’s holiest church, the Pontiff supported Christianity's claim to the city," emphasized Berkovich. "The rediscovered high altar is proof of a previously unknown direct connection between Rome and Jerusalem, which is also important for European art history," the OeAW statement noted.