Paul Calvert spoke with Dudi Mevorach from the Israel Museum, about the development of Christianity in the Holy Land.

This period that we call the Byzantine period from the 4th century all the way up to the 8th century, until the Arab conquest, is a huge development of churches, monasteries, hospices, hospitals and a huge array of services, all meant for pilgrims to the Holy Land and to the holy places.

One of the things that developed here, are ancient churches and the form of ancient churches, because until the early 4th century we don't know of a form of a house of prayer and Christianity. We know what we call domus ecclesia, which are private houses that are used for the congregation and for prayers, but we don't know how to identify them architectonically.

In the 4th century we already have churches that establish a well formed plan in the form of a basilica, with a bema (a raised platform) one side and an altar and a holy relic that usually marks the importance of the spot, and a baptisterium for baptizing all the new members into Christianity, because a huge amount of people, Jews and Pagans transform into Christianity in this period. So many of the churches have a baptist area; not for children, but for adults to transform into Christianity.

What we have done in the museum is that we have reconstructed a bema of a Byzantine church. It is built from remains from 17 different churches that we put together, and they remarkably look like they are originally from the same church. There are phenomenal remains of an altar from the Judean desert, and relics from the Galilee. There is a baptisterium from Herodium, and mosaics, crosses, and pendants. So you have a chance of seeing what a Christian church in the Byzantine period looked like.

Pontius Pilate inscription, Caesarea, 26-36 CE

Not less interesting, right next to it, you can see a synagogue from the same period from the Holy Land. Synagogues and churches were very much alike architectonically. They were built by the same artisans. They looked very much alike with a raised bema platform on one side and chancellor screens separating the priests from the congregation, but of course the symbolism was very different. While churches are decorated with crosses and scenes from the holy scriptures, synagogues are decorated with menorahs and scenes from the Old Testament.

These two religions, which develop side by side at the same place, and then continue to develop into architectonic forms and architectonic shapes, make a point of being different one from each other, as they are at the same place and in a way competing for members in the congregation.

So we have reconstructed the bema of the synagogue in Susya, next to this Christian bema of a church.

You can see some of the decorations in churches and synagogues, for instance you can see a huge mosaic from Kissufim in the Negev, but it only portrays hunting scenes and imaginary creatures, nothing religious about it. That's on the floor, because on the floor it is forbidden to have Jesus or any of the holy figures. They would be on the walls in frescos, or in stone or gilded mosaics, like you see in this fresco from Caesarea.

If you look at synagogue mosaics it is the total opposite. Synagogue mosaics would have the Temple and the holy implements, the menorah and the shofar and they'd have biblical characters: King David and Sampson and other biblical heroes are on the floor and you can step on them. Even the biblical law is sited in Hebrew on the floor of the synagogue. It gives you an idea that this huge change in concept in Judaism that occurs here.

The previous period, the Second Temple period forbid doing human characters or animal characters of any kind, because Paganism was the threat. In this period the competition is Christianity, so therefore Jews go back to depicting biblical stories and the Temple, which is already destroyed 300 years, because they want to make a point of remembering these and making a difference between churches and synagogues.

So it is a chance to see a huge rare moment in the 4th to 7th centuries where Christianity and Judaism existed side by side and practised side by side in very similar buildings, but very different practice.

The Holy Land is a field of development, or architecture, and services for pilgrims, because pilgrims come here in millions through the Byzantine time. It is actually an industry, it's a holy tourism and it continues until today in the same manner.

One of the things that we do find is signs of this development, or in other words modern development of Jerusalem, when we do new roads, or new trains, or lay new cables. We find archaeology and we find signs of the Byzantine period and the two inscriptions that we stand next to are two signs of that.

The mosaic one was found only a few months ago near the Damascus Gate as they were excavating for a new cable system. It is in Greek and it mentions Justinian the emperor, maybe the greatest developer of the Holy Land, and Constantine the abbot who built a place for pilgrims, a hostel, probably right outside the Damascus Gate.