Page 6 - Holyland Magazine - 2016 Edition
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It was under Eilat Leiber, Director and Chief Dolorosa followed a path beginning
Curator of the Tower of David Museum, that on Mt. Zion and moving northward,
the Kishle excavations were recently opened past what now is the Tower of David
to the general public. Lieber relates that Museum, where Herod’s palace once
as she followed the excavation unfold, she stood.
quickly understood they would be able to
touch Jerusalem’s very history. Indeed, many scholars and historians
are now coming to believe that the
“Although my original dream had been to have site of the Judgment Place may have
extra space for Museum activities, we quickly actually been Herod’s sumptuous
realized what treasures had been found. This is palace. It would have been a more
another piece in the big puzzle of King Herod logical choice for the Roman governor
in Jerusalem and of the urban development of to stay at in comfort and luxury when
the city in general,” Lieber said. in Jerusalem than in a more rustic
military barracks.
The Gospels do not tell us the location of the
Praetorium, the Roman governor’s residence “Though we don’t have any clear
while he was in Jerusalem. However, when
they relate the story of Jesus’ trial, sentencing archaeological evidence pointing
and crucifixion, a centuries-old tradition
dating back to the Crusader period identified to the existence of the Praetorium, Sun beam shining down through prison
it as being north of the Temple Mount, at it is only logical to assume that window bars into excavations. Tower of
the Antonia Fortress, a military barracks David Museum
built by Herod the Great, near Lion’s Gate in
the northern eastern side of the city where when Pilate came to Jerusalem,
pilgrims today begin the Via Dolorosa route.
But an older Byzantine tradition of the Via he stayed in Herod’s palace, as he
Kishle building following excavations. did in Caesarea, the capital of the Roman Herod’s palace, as described by first century
Photo: Oded Antman
province,” noted Amit Re’em, Israel Jewish-Roman historian Josephus Flavius,
Antiquities Authority Jerusalem District was a place of opulent, decorated in lavish
Archaeologist, who headed the excavations amounts of silver and gold, with numerous
as a young archaeologist. rooms, beautiful fountains, ornamental
pools, luxurious swimming pools and
expansive gardens.
“We can say for sure that what we have
excavated are the remains of Herod’s palace.
Here people can touch the stones that
actually date to the time of Jesus and Herod
and truly identify with these Biblical events,”
noted Re’em. “There are many other parts of
Herod’s palace still hidden under the buildings
of the Old City and waiting to be discovered.”
“In this small place, we have excavated the
entire archaeological and historical sequence
of Jerusalem. This is the story of Jerusalem,
everything is here—including the story of the
beginning of Christianity,” Re’em added.
Though Re’em admits that the finds were
not a complete surprise to him, he was
nevertheless amazed at the importance
of their discoveries. “I expected to find
something dramatic,” he related. “In the Old
City of Jerusalem you always find something.
Treasures are buried everywhere.”
Entrance to the Kishle is from the Tower of
David Museum, housed in the magnificently
restored citadel at the Jaffa Gate entrance
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