Nea Church

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The mosaic map of Madaba
Remains of an apse

The Nea Church ( New Church ) was commissioned by Justinian I in Jerusalem built. She was consecrated to the Mother of God . The building is considered one of the most important magnificent buildings of this ruler. It was consecrated on November 20, 543 .

The Nea Church is described by various Byzantine authors. Prokopios in particular ( Buildings , 5, 6) described their construction and appearance in detail. A small schematic illustration of the structure can be found on the mosaic map of Madaba .

The church was badly damaged several times and eventually destroyed in 614 during the conquest of Jerusalem by the Sassanids . During the Umayyad period , the remains of the church were used as building material.

Remnants of the building could be located during excavations under the direction of Nahman Avigad . According to this, the building was about 116 m long and 57 m wide. The floor was covered with marble. The roof was supported by rows of columns . To the west, the building opened onto the Cardo , the city's main street adorned with columns. Two gigantic columns are said to have been located here at the entrance. There was also a forecourt here, which in turn was richly decorated with columns. There were also pillared courtyards on the long sides of the church. In the east there were three apses , with the church wall here sometimes up to 6.5 m wide. The terrain in Jerusalem is very hilly. Therefore, a podium had to be erected for the church on which the building could first be built. For this purpose, gigantic vaults were erected, some of which were excavated and at that time also served as cisterns .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eckart Otto: Jerusalem - the history of the Holy City , 1980 [Urban Pocket Books 308], p. 192;
    Max Küchler: Jerusalem. A handbook and study guide to the Holy City , Göttingen 2007, p. 527.
  2. ↑ Meir Ben-Dov: Found After 1400 Years - The Magnificent Nea . In: Biblical Archeology Review , December 1977.

literature

Web links

Commons : The Nea Church  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Coordinates: 31 ° 46 '24.3 "  N , 35 ° 13' 53.6"  E