A 1,600-year-old mosaic said to be “one of the most impressive” ever discovered in Israel has gone on public display in the Negev desert, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday.
The colorful mosaic, which was discovered in a monastery 35 years ago south of Kibbutz Urim near the border with the Gaza Strip and recently underwent conservation, is now being showcased for the first time in the Merhavim Regional Council’s headquarters in southern Israel.
The Be’er Shema (Birsama) mosaic includes 55 medallions decorated with scenes of hunting, animals and everyday life, was dated to the Byzantine period (324-638 CE).
“This beautiful mosaic, a living testimony to life that existed in the Negev some 1,500 years ago, will be preserved here and become a focal point for visits and learning—for tourists, students, and residents from across the country,” said Merhavim Regional Council head Shay Hajaj.
The impressive work of art is being made public in southern Israel nearly 20 months after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed the area, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 250 hostages back to Gaza in the single worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The new site will serve the public as an open archaeological garden, with explanatory signs, an access road and seating areas.
“Especially these days, it is of great importance to reveal historical gems in the Gaza border region, such that they will be visitor attractions and increase traffic to this vital area,” said Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Escusido, who invited the public “to form their own impressions of one of the most beautiful mosaics ever seen here in Israel’s south, here in the northwestern Negev.”
