EASTER AND THE TOMB OF JESUS CHRIST

Entrance to King Herod the Great's palace unearthed: Complex set of corridors leads to elaborate hall of ruler Discovery was made by Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologists Entrance leads to Herodyan Hilltop Palace at the Herodium National Park Palace was built after Herod defeated the Parthians between 23 and 15BC He was said to have built a town and palace on the site 10 miles (16km) south of Jerusalem to celebrate this victory Main feature of the entrance is a corridor with a complex system of arches A series of hidden tunnels dug on the site by rebels were also found They are said to have been part of guerrilla warfare waged against Romans Excavations of a colossal fortress built by King Herod the Great have uncovered the palace's dramatic entrance way. The arched entrance and corridor, built around 20 years before the birth of Christ, leads to a vestibule or lobby covered with coloured frescoes. The palace was built after Herod defeated the Parthians, originally from Iran, and decided to build a town and palace on the site 10 miles (16km) south of Jerusalem to celebrate his victory.    +6 Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology, discovered the colossal entrance (pictured) to the Herodium hilltop palace at the Herodyon National Park. The main feature of the entryway is a corridor with a complex system of arches spanning its width on three separate levels The discovery was made by by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology. It was part of a wider dig that is ongoing at the Herodium site in the Herodyon National Park. The main feature of the entryway is a corridor with a complex system of arches spanning its width on three separate levels. Thanks to the supporting arches, the 65ft (20 metre) long and 19ft (6 metre) wide corridor has been preserved to a height of 65ft (20 metres). Hebrew University archaeologists, Roi Porat, Yakov Kalman and Rachel Chachy, said: ‘The corridor was built as part of Herod's plan to turn Herodium into a massive artificial volcano-shaped hill, a vast and impressive monument designed to commemorate the architect-King.   +6 Herodium is a hill, situated in the Herodyon National Park (pictured). Between 23 and 15BC, King Herod the Great constructed a fortress, palace and small town on the cone-shaped mound and was later buried there. Herod died in Jericho in spring 4 BC and was said to have been buried on the site HEROD’S HILLTOP FORTRESS AND PALACE Herod (illustrated) was born around 73BC and was governor of Galilee. He was appointed King of the Jews by the Roman senate Herodium is a hilltop fortress situated in the Herodyon National Park. Between 23 and 15BC, King Herod the Great constructed a fortress, palace and small town on the cone-shaped mound, and was later buried there. Herod was born around 73BC and was governor of Galilee until 40BC. The Parthian Empire then conquered Judea, which was under Roman control at the time, and Herod fled to Jerusalem. He sought refuge in Petra, where his mother was said to have been originally from, and was later appointed King of the Jews by the Roman senate. With Roman support, he took back the kingdom three years later, and began building the fortress a decade after that. Archaeologists believe the palace was built by slaves and contractors and consisted of four towers - believed to have been where Herod lived - as well as frescoes, an aqueduct, elaborate mosaic floors and corridors connected by archways. The site is the highest peak in the Judean desert, stretching 2,450ft (758 metres) above sea level. Herod died in Jericho in spring 4 BC of an illness dubbed ‘Herod’s Evil’, which is thought to have been a combination of cirrhosis of the liver, hypertension, and diabetes. Archaeologists believe the palace was built by slaves and contractors (illustrated left) as well as frescoes, an aqueduct, elaborate mosaic floors and corridors connected by archways. His body was buried in a tomb on the site of the fortress, which archaeologists claimed to have uncovered in 2007 (pictured right) His body was buried in a tomb on the site of the fortress, which archaeologists claimed to have uncovered in 2007. However, last year, experts ruled this location out because the tomb was too small for a ruler known for his decadence and love of ambitious, large scale architectural projects. Experts at the time also said the said the building where the tomb was said to have been found has an awkward layout with two staircases above the tomb, and is not symmetrically aligned with the rest of the complex, which would have been a design faux pas not fit for a king. They also believe that the ruler, known for his expensive taste, would not have settled for a coffin made of local stones.   +6 The original palace vestibule, blocked when the corridor became redundant, was also exposed (pictured). This room was decorated with painted frescoes and also showed signs of the rebel occupation during the Great Revolt of 66 to 71 BC. These signs included Jewish Revolt coins and crude temporary structures ‘During the course of the excavations, it became evident that the arched corridor was never actually in use, as prior to its completion it became redundant.' Experts believe that when Herod became aware of his impending death in 4BC, he decided to convert the hilltop complex into a memorial mound and royal burial monument.   ‘Whatever the case, the corridor was backfilled during the construction of the massive artificial hill at the end of Herod's reign,' continued the archaeologists. ‘The upper section of a new monumental stairway stretching from the hill's base to its peak, constructed during the course of this building phase, appears to have been built over it.’   +6 The palace was built after Herod defeated the Parthians and decided to build a town on the site 10 miles (16km) south of Jerusalem (marked) to celebrate his victory The original palace vestibule, blocked when the corridor became redundant, was also exposed. DO CLAY SEALS PROVE THE REIGN OF KINGS DAVID AND SOLOMON? The discovery of official clay seals (pictured) may prove there was a ruler, or at least government activity, in the region during the 9th century BC For centuries, scholars have either dismissed King David and King Solomon as mythological figures, or disputed the era in which they ruled over the Israelites, as told in the Bible. But the discovery of six official clay seals may finally prove that there was a ruler in the region during the 9th and 10th century BC. Although the bullae don't directly reference David or Solomon, they do suggest the presence of a government and political activity during their respective supposed reigns. This room was decorated with painted frescoes and also showed signs of the rebel occupation during the Great Revolt of 66 to 71 BC. These signs included Jewish Revolt coins and crude temporary structures. In addition, the excavations in the arched corridor also showed evidence of the Bar Kokhba Revolt period that took place between 132 and 136 BC. This included a series of hidden tunnels dug on the site by the rebels as part of the guerrilla warfare they waged against the Romans. The archaeologists said: ‘Supported in part by wooden beams, these tunnels exited from the hilltop fortress by way of the corridor's walls, through openings hidden in the corridor. ‘One of the tunnels revealed a well-preserved construction of 20 or so cypress-wood branches, arranged in a cross-weave pattern to support the tunnel's roof.’ Shaul Goldstein, Director of Israel's Nature and Parks Authority, added: ‘In the future, the excavation of the arched corridor will allow visitors direct access to the Herodium hilltop palace-fortress, in the same way that Herod entered it two thousand years ago. ‘There are also plans to provide tourists with direct access to the structures on the slope, the Royal Theater and the Mausoleum, via the earlier monumental stairway, to the hilltop Palace.’ Turin Shroud mystery 'solved': Infrared tests show ancient cloth may NOT be a medieval fake after all... and could have been used to wrap Christ's body Infra red tests dated the cloth to some time between 300BC and 400AD The shroud will appear in a live TV broadcast on Saturday Just in time for Easter a new study has claimed that the Shroud of Turin is a not a medieval forgery but could - in fact - be the burial shroud that was used to wrap the body of Christ. The cloth’s consistency is similar to those used to bury the dead at the time of Christ, 2,000 years ago, according to the latest scientific studies. Details of the research have emerged in a book and come ahead of Saturday's rare glimpse of the Shroud, when TV cameras will film it as part of a live broadcast ahead of Easter Sunday.   Separated at birth: Split screen showing the likeness between the Turin Shroud and a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci For centuries scientists have argued about the authenticity of the Shroud - which is kept in a secure vault in Turin Cathedral - and it has become one of the most iconic images of the Roman Catholic faith. The 14ft-long linen cloth bears the faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and sides that match those suffered by Christ at his Crucifixion.The findings are in a new book called Il Mistero della Sindone (The Mystery of the Shroud) which is published on Good Friday. The authors, Professor Giulio Fanti, an expert in mechanical and thermal measurement at the University of Padua’s Engineering Faculty and journalist Saverio Gaeta, examined fibres from the Shroud and compared them to samples of cloth dating back to between 3000BC and up to the modern era to contrast them and see if it is a Medieval forgery. Key to the findings are three new tests, two chemical ones and one mechanical, the first two were carried out using infra-red light, and the other using Raman spectroscopy - which measures radiation through wavelengths and is commonly used in forensic science. Has Turin Shroud mystery been solved? 14ft-long linen cloth, pictured above left in 1934, bears the faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and sides that match those suffered by Christ at his Crucifixion The results dated the fibres from the cloth to a period between 300BC to 400AD, which covers the years of Christ's life. Debate has raged whether the image is that of Christ or a fake from the Middle Ages. But what is certain is that experts have never really been able to explain how the image was made. Carbon 14 tests were conducted on the cloth in 1988 and these findings suggested it dated from between 1260 and 1390. However, some scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from water damage and fire, were not taken sufficiently into account and could have distorted the results. Since then, there have been several requests for fresh tests but Church chiefs have always refused - and this is why Professor Fanti and his team had to rely on fibres that were used in the 1988 tests. Before he retired last month pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave permission for the Shroud to go on display as a 'last gift’ to the millions of Catholics before he retired from public office. Thirteen years ago when he was plain cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict wrote that the shroud was a ‘truly mysterious image, which no human artistry was capable of producing. In some inexplicable it appeared imprinted upon cloth...’ Italian state TV will broadcast footage of the Shroud but it is not thought that general public access will be allowed until 2025, the date of the next scheduled display. As part of the TV broadcast, a new app called Sindone 2.0 has been developed, showing a series of HD images of the shroud which highlight details of the cloth not visible to the naked eye. WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD? The linen cloth, believed by some to have wrapped the body of Jesus Christ, has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, sceptics and Catholics for more than 500 years. There are no definite historical records concerning the shroud prior to the 14th century. Although there are numerous reports of Jesus' burial shroud, or an image of his head, of unknown origin, being venerated in various locations before the 14th century. But there is no historical evidence that these refer to the shroud currently at Turin Cathedral. A burial cloth, which some historians maintain was the Shroud, was owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. Historical records seem to indicate that a shroud bearing an image of a crucified man existed in the small town of Lirey around the years 1353 to 1357. It was in the possession of a French Knight, Geoffroi de Charny, who died at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. However the correspondence of this shroud with the shroud in Turin, and its very origin has been debated by scholars and lay authors, with claims of forgery attributed to artists born a century apart. Some contend that the Lirey shroud was the work of a confessed forger and murderer. The history of the shroud from the 15th century is well recorded. In 1532, the shroud suffered damage from a fire in a chapel of Chambéry, capital of the Savoy region, where it was stored. A drop of molten silver from the reliquary produced a symmetrically placed mark through the layers of the folded cloth. Poor Clare Nuns attempted to repair this damage with patches. In 1578 Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy ordered the cloth to be brought from Chambéry to Turin and it has remained at Turin ever since. The shroud has had many notorious admirers. It even obsessed Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who wanted to steal it so he could use it in a black magic ceremony. In May 2010, five years after he became Pope, Benedict authorised a public viewing of the Shroud - the first since 2000 and also 15 years ahead of its next scheduled public display. Turin Shroud 'was created by flash of supernatural light': It couldn't be a medieval forgery, say scientistsThe image on the Turin Shroud could not be the  work of medieval forgers but was instead caused by a supernatural ‘flash of light’, according to scientists. Italian researchers have found evidence that casts doubt on claims that the relic – said to be the burial cloth of Jesus – is a fake and they suggest that it could, after all, be authentic. Sceptics have long argued that the shroud, a rectangular sheet measuring about 14ft by 3ft, is a forgery dating to medieval times. Scientists in Italy believe the kind of technology needed to create the Shroud of Turin simply wasn't around at the time that it was created Scientists from Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development spent years trying to replicate the shroud’s markings. They have concluded only something akin to ultraviolet lasers – far beyond the capability of medieval forgers – could have created them.This has led to fresh suggestions that the imprint was indeed created by a huge burst of energy accompanying the Resurrection of Christ. ‘The results show a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,’ the scientists said. WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD? The Vatican owns the Turin shroud, and hails the relic as an exploration of the ‘darkest mystery of faith’. But the church has shied away from any definitive statement over whether the shroud - which is supposed to have formed Christ's burial robe - is real. The Shroud is thought to have travelled widely before it was brought to France in the 14th century by a Crusader. It was kept in a French convent for years - by nuns who patched it, and where it was damaged by fire. The Shroud was given to the Turin Archbishop in 1578 by the Duke of Savoy and has been kept in the Cathedral ever since. Carbon dating tests in 1988 dated it from between 1260 and 1390 - implying it was a fake. Scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from patches, water damage and fire, was not taken sufficiently into account In 1999, two Israeli scientists said plant pollen found on the Shroud supported the view that it comes from the Holy Land. There have been numerous calls for further testing but the Vatican has always refused. The image of the bearded man on the shroud must therefore have been created by ‘some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength)’, their report concludes. But it stops short of offering a non-scientific explanation. Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, who led the study, said: ‘When one talks about a flash of light being able to colour a piece of linen in the same way as the shroud, discussion inevitably touches on things such as miracles. ‘But as scientists, we were concerned only with verifiable scientific processes. We hope our results can open up a philosophical and theological debate.’ For centuries, people have argued about the authenticity of the shroud, which is kept in a climate-controlled case in Turin cathedral. One of the most controversial relics in the Christian world, it bears the faint image of a man whose body appears to have nail wounds to the wrists and feet. Some believe it to be a physical link to Jesus of Nazareth. For others, however, it is nothing more than an elaborate forgery. In 1988, radiocarbon tests on samples of the shroud at the University of Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology dated the cloth to the Middle Ages, between 1260 and 1390. Those tests have been disputed on the basis that they were contaminated by fibres from cloth used to repair the shroud when it was damaged by fire in the Middle Ages. More recently, further doubt was cast on its authenticity when Israeli archaeologists uncovered the first known burial shroud in Jerusalem from the time of the Crucifixion. Its weave and design are completely different from the Turin Shroud, they said. The Jerusalem shroud has a simple two-way weave – but the twill weave used on the Turin Shroud was introduced more than 1,000 years after Christ lived. That research was disputed, however, because there was a possibility of contamination from patches of cloth that had been sewn on following a fire in Chambery, France, in 1532 The Shroud of Turin's latest findings are staggering. It is a multiple exposure and the man in the image was ALIVE AND MOVING! Was this the moment of the resurrection of Jesus? The nails in his hands and feet show they were moving, the Tefillin on his arms shows his arm was moving and his belt buckle shows he was breathing. You must watch this Nelson Walters video Eyewitness Report ofJesus' Resurrection - Pilate Wrote What the Soldiers Saw and Felt The Resurrection of Christ, 1463-65, fresco by Piero della Francesca: The Vatican - which owns the Turin shroud - shies away from statements over whether it is real or fake, but says it helps to explore the 'darkest mysteries of faith' The words "Yeshua (Jesus) the Nazarene" were found hidden in the image of the Shroud of Turin, the infamous cloth that supposedly holds the image of Jesus at the moment of His resurrection. These words were only found when the image was examined by a visualization program on a computer. Only then were they visible. How did those words get on the image? Are they related to an ancient Roman practice of the day? What other evidence is there that the Shroud is authentic? Watch this Nelson Walters Holy Week video for incredible answers. Carbon dating tests carried out in 1988 in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona suggested that the shroud was created some time between 1260 and 1390 Since the mid-fourteenth century. a long piece of linen has been the object of an ongoing controversy. On it, we can see the image of a man with all the markings of the crucifixion. For the devout, it is the authentic shroud of Christ. For skeptics, this relic is merely an icon produced by some genius, a medieval con artist. Follow researcher Christian Page in his quest to unveil the history of the Holy Relics of Christianity as he travels through time in some of the world's greatest cities: Jerusalem, Istanbul, Paris, Vienna, and Rome. Without the dedication of some historical figures and unknown devotees, these Holy Treasures may have never made their way into the modern world. Since the beginning of Christianity, relics attributed to saints or Christ Himself have had a great symbolic and spiritual value, stirring passion amongst believers. With the assistance of some of the world's leading experts in archaeology, history, theology, genetics, engineering, and molecular physics, this series embarks on a privileged visit to the sites where each event took place. A photograph taken during a royal visit to Bethlehem to prove the biblical city's existence will be going on display among photographs and diary extracts from a royal tour 150 years ago. Queen Victoria's eldest son King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, was sent on an educational trip to the Middle East in 1862, accompanied by Francis Bedford - the first photographer on a royal tour. His previously unseen photos include a view of Bethlehem from the roof of the Church of the Nativity, said to be built on the spot where Jesus was born. Unseen: Royal photographer Francis Bedford took this picture of Bethlehem 150 years ago while on a visit with the Prince of Wales Exhibition: Francis Bedford's photo of The Shepherds' Field, where the Angel Gabriel appeared according to the Bible, taken on a royal visit to Bethlehem in 1862 Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem. Situated at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, according to the gospels, Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed there the night before he was arrested. He also took a picture of the Shepherds' Field showing the area where the Angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to the shepherds. The photographs, which belong to the Royal Collection, will form part of a new exhibition Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East at The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, from March 8, 2013.   Curator Sophie Gordon said the purpose of taking the photograph from the Church of the Nativity was to show the Victorian audience that Bethlehem really existed and to add weight to the Christian tradition. ‘Bethlehem wasn't directly on the Prince's route - and so his party made a particular point of going there,’ she said. Damascus, Syria, in ruins following the conflict of 1860, when very little was known about this part of the world at the time The pyramids at Giza, Cairo, Egypt, part of the Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East collection Previously unseen: The Prince of Wales and his party among ruins in Karnak, Thebes in Egypt. Dr Gordon added: ‘Very little was known about this part of the world at the time, and what information they did have was largely based on knowledge of the Bible."  In the early 1860s, photography was still in its infancy and had only been introduced to the public in 1839.  ‘Bedford's camera would have been quite large to accommodate a 10 x 12in glass plate negative,' Dr Gordon added.  ‘He must have had porters to carry all his equipment, as the entire photographic process had to be done on the spot. Royal trip: The photographs were taken during the future King Edward VII's first royal tour to the Middle East whilst he was still the Prince of Wales,left, and right: a diary entry by  King Edward VII Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem. It is thought the royal photographer must have had porters to carry all his equipment, as the entire photographic process had to be done on the spot ‘Just before he took the photograph, Bedford would have coated and sensitised the plate, because the plate had to go in the camera when it was still wet. ‘He would have then developed and fixed the image, while excluding all light, and washed the plate. To carry out this process, Bedford would have constructed a temporary dark room, perhaps on the church roof.' The then Prince of Wales described the party's visit to Bethlehem in his diary entry for April 3, 1862, describing how ‘our tents were struck at 8.30am and we started at that time (on horseback of course) for Bethlehem, which we reached in about a couple of hours time, stopping on the way at Rachel's tomb, and it was ascertained for certain that the tomb is on the site of the real one’. Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek, Lebanon, was also part of the heir to the throne's four-month trip   Gateway to the Luxor temple, Egypt in the early 1860s. Photography was only introduced to the public in 1839 Abd al-Qadir, an Algerian Islamic scholar, Sufi, political and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion in the mid-19th century . He recalls how they had 'some splendid refreshment' and how they saw a 'fine view' on the top of the church. On April 18, 1862, when the party encountered poor weather ahead of a ride to Nazareth, he wrote: ‘Early in the morning it blew a regular hurricane and poured with rain and all our tents were in gt. jeopardy.' The heir to the throne's four-month trip to the Middle East was designed to increase his understanding of the area at a time when the Ottoman Empire was disintegrating and Britain needed to secure the route to India.  The church standing where Jesus is believed to have been born could become the Palestinian Territory's first World Heritage site, it was revealed today. Bethlehem's venerated Church of the Nativity has been nominated for the honour before a UNESCO meeting later this month. The nomination, which includes the church and surrounding route taken by religious pilgrims, is the Palestinians' first bid for inclusion on the prestigious list. Venerated: Christians march at Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in the Biblical town of Bethlehem. Sites included are deemed as holding 'outstanding universal value' as part of the world's shared heritage. It comes after Palestinian membership to UNESCO, the United Nations' heritage body, was granted in October 2011, when UNESCO's general assembly voted by 107-14 to accept the Palestinians. UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and is a sub-agency to the United Nations. Its purpose is 'to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information' and is most famous for its list of World Heritage sites. UNESCO has 195 full members and 8 associate members. Bulgarian politician Irina Bokova has been the organisation's Director-General since 2009. There are 936 World Heritage sites, the list include both man-made and natural wonders such as Stonehenge and Tower of London, The Grand Canyon, Notre Dame Cathedral, Machu Picchu and The Pyramids of Giza. The vote proved controversial with the U.S., which holds the view that a peace deal must be reached with Israel before the Palestinian Territories can be granted full membership of international organisations. The U.S. and Israel's subsequent funding cut to the body saw UNESCO lose more than a fifth of its revenues. Bethlehem, situated in the West Bank, about five miles south of Jerusalem, is considered the Palestinian Territories' top visitor destination partly due to the religious significance of the church. One of the oldest surviving Christian churches in the world, it drew two million visitors last year, according to Nada Atrash, an architect and head of the research and training unit at Bethlehem's Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation, which has been lobbying for the site's inscription as a World Heritage destination.  She told CNN the centre considered Bethlehem's inclusion on the list 'as a Palestinian dream, and as a reward of 11 years of work in the field of preserving the cultural and natural heritage in Palestine'.  Visitor numbers have hit record highs in recent years, but, according to a report into developing tourism in the town, Bethlehem has yet to properly capitalise on its potential.  The majority of the visitors were day trippers on short visits, meaning the full economic benefits of tourism did not flow into the town.  Atrash said it was hoped that gaining World Heritage status would help efforts to boost Bethlehem's appeal as a destination and keep visitors in the town for longer than a visit to the church.  'We are mainly seeking to extend the stay of the visitors, who usually drop (in) to Bethlehem for few hours to visit the church and leave without visiting the town,' she said. 'We hope that this inscription would contribute to both the promotion of the site and its protection.' Holy site: Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Holy Land Eireneos I conducts midnight mass in the crypt under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem Palestinian Christian girls walk through the sunlit Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus.  The condition of the church, which has suffered extensive earthquake damage in its history, has been of concern. A Christian pilgrim touches an icon of the Virgin Mary inside the Church of the Nativity. One of the issues is that responsibility for its administration is shared between three religious authorities -- the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic churches. On occasion, tensions between the groups have spilled over into violence; in December, about 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics fought with brooms when a tussle broke out while cleaning the church.  One of Christianity's most holy places, the site's focal point is the Grotto of the Nativity, a rectangular cavern beneath the church that has been considered the site of Christ's birth since at least the 2nd century.  A 14-pointed silver star set into the marble floor marks the precise spot where Jesus is said to have been born. In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine founded a church on the site, which was destroyed in the year 529, only to be replaced by larger structures, which form the basis of the church today.  UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will consider the Church of the Nativity among 36 sites nominated for inclusion on the list at its next meeting, to be held from June 24 to July 6, in St Petersburg, Russia. Tis the season when we celebrate a baby and his mother. Nutty vicars may tell us we can't sing O Little Town Of Bethlehem because it's no longer relevant to life in Jesus's birthplace, but the Madonna and Child remains one of the most moving images ever created. Mary cradling her newborn son is the logo of love without end.  You need faith to believe in Christ, but anyone can place hope in the power of a mother's love. Madonna and Child, the logo of love between a mother and child. Right Photo, Stable where he was born, a simple silver star set in marble marks the spot where Jesus was born. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Christ, and it is considered sacred by followers of both Christianity and Islam (see Islamic View of Jesus). The antiquity of this tradition is attested by the Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. 100 - 165), who noted in his Dialogue with Trypho that the Holy Family had taken refuge in a cave outside of town. Origen of Alexandria (185 AD–ca. 254) wrote: In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the rumor is in those places, and among foreigners of the Faith, that indeed Jesus was born in this cave The traditional birthplace of Jesus celebrated its merriest Christmas in years as tens of thousands of tourists descended on Bethlehem. Officials said the turnout was shaping up to be the largest since 2000. Unseasonably mild weather, a virtual halt in Israeli-Palestinian violence and a burgeoning economic revival in the West Bank all added to the cheer. By nightfall a packed Manger Square was awash in red, blue, green and yellow Christmas lights. Merrymakers blasted horns, bands sang traditional Christmas carols in Arabic, Boy Scout marching bands performed and Palestinian policemen deployed around the town to keep the peace. Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal carries the statuette of baby Jesus during the midnight Mass ceremony which marks the beginning of Christmas Day at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem A nun takes communion from Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal during the midnight mass ceremony which marks the beginning of Christmas Day A group of 30 tourists from Papua New Guinea wearing red Santa hats walked around the nearby Church of the Nativity, built on the site where tradition holds Jesus was born. Both church officials and the Palestinian president voiced hopes for peace. Bethlehem used to attract tens of thousands of tourists from around the world for Christmas celebrations, but attendance dropped sharply following the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. As the fighting tapered off over the last five years, attendance steadily climbed. The town's 2,750 hotel rooms were booked solid for Christmas week, and town chiefs say more hotels are being built. Israeli officials said they expected about 90,000 visitors in Bethlehem during the current two-week holiday season, up from 70,000 last year. But the bloodshed has left its mark. Visitors entering the town must cross through a massive metal gate in the separation barrier Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian attacks last decade. Christian pilgrims pray in the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in Bethlehem A Christian pilgrim arrives at the Church of the Nativity last night. The Roman Catholic Church's top clergyman in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, crossed through the gate in a traditional midday procession from Jerusalem. Later he celebrated Midnight Mass, the peak of the Christmas events. In his homily, he issued a conciliatory call for peace between religions and urged an 'intensification' of dialogue with Jews and Muslims. 'We need to unite and integrate the many values we have in common: prayer, piety, fasting, almsgiving, and ethical values,' he said. 'Our hope for Christmas is that Jerusalem not only become the capital of two nations, but also a model for the world, of harmony and coexistence of the three monotheistic religions. 'During this Christmas season, may the sound of the bells of our churches drown the noise of weapons in our wounded Middle East, calling all men to peace and the joy.' The crowds continued to swell throughout the day and by last night, Israeli military officials, who co-ordinate movement in and out of the West Bank, said the number rose to around 70,000 people, compared with 50,000 last year. Raed Arafat, the 40-year-old owner of the Stars and Bucks Cafe, played Christmas songs over loudspeakers and handed out free Arabic coffee at his shop near Manger Square. Tourists took photos and bought mugs emblazoned with the cafe chain's green logo, modelled after the American Starbucks company. A Palestinian policeman stands guard at a roof watching the celebrations at the square of the Church of the Nativity, where Christians believe the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (L) attends the midnight mass ceremony which marks the beginning of Christmas Day The holiday had its surreal moments. Many visitors were local Palestinians, including a large number of Muslim women whose faces were covered by veils. The loud Muslim call to prayer from a mosque next to Manger Square briefly drowned out the celebrations. 'Because of the hard situation and the pressure we are living in, we take advantage of any joyful moment and bring our children to play,' said Khitam Harazallah, a housewife from the nearby Deheishe refugee camp who came with her two young children. Today, just one-third of Bethlehem's 50,000 residents are Christian, down from about 75% in the 1950s. The rest are Muslims. The Christian population throughout the Middle East has shrunk in recent decades as people flee violence or search for better opportunities abroad. Christians make up roughly 2% of the population in the Holy Land. With the end of fighting, the West Bank has undergone an economic revival in recent years, illustrated by new shopping malls and widespread construction projects in the bustling city of Ramallah. A priest blesses the statue of the baby Jesus inside in the grotto which marks the spot where Christians believe Christ was born But a deadlock in Middle East peace talks between Israel and the West Bank government of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, along with a flare-up in violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip, threatened to cast a pall over the celebrations. Mr Abbas, a Muslim, travelled to Bethlehem to greet revellers, saying he hoped the coming year would finally bring peace. 'We are seekers of peace in the path of Jesus,' he said. 'We hope that next year will be a year of peace by establishing the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with Israel in peace and security.' Israel maintains an embargo on Gaza, which is governed by Mr Abbas' rival, the Islamic militant group Hamas. In a goodwill gesture, Israel allowed 500 members of Gaza's tiny Christian community to travel to Bethlehem. Niveen Wadia, a 40-year-old Gaza woman, said coming to Bethlehem was 'a very beautiful feeling.' 'In Gaza we don't have any celebration atmosphere. We are the minority there,' she said. An extraordinary brawl between clergymen broke out yesterday at the very site where Jesus is said to have been born. The annual cleaning of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem descended into a battle between the rival Christian denominations that share it. Brooms, fists and vicious insults  flew in all directions between 100  priests and monks dressed in their  traditional robes. Clash: Riot police are forced to defend themselves from broom-wielding holy men at the traditionally accepted birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem FIST FIGHTS ON HOLY GROUND: A TURBULENT HISTORY DATING BACK CENTURIES The Church of Nativity is a basilica built over the grotto where it is believed that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus. In 333 A.D. the Emperor Constantine completed the basilica, which still attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world every year. Although it was destroyed during a Samaritan riot in 529 A.D. it was rebuilt and reconfigured under Emperor Justinian. After the Holy Land was taken over by Muslims in the 7th Century, the Muslim caliph guaranteed the integrity of the church to the Byzantines. This meant the building survived a Persian invasion in 614 and an order by the Fatamid caliph in 1000 to destroy all Christian shrines. Crusaders took over the church without a fight when Jerusalem was captured away from the Muslims in 1099. After this Franciscan monks backed by the Pope took over the church, creating a rivalry that lasted for centuries between them and the Greek Orthodox church, which can trace its early origins back to the 2nd Century, who were the successors of the Byzantine, over who would control of the church. The Church of Nativity has now been divided into Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian sections for several centuries. Each group is very possessive about the parts of the church and objects under its control. Decisions about who takes care of what is based on Ottoman Empire status system, dating back to 1299, which mandates that things be done as they have always been. The fight ended only after Palestinian police, bending their heads to squeeze through the church’s low ‘door of humility’, rushed in with batons to restore order. The row is believed to have begun after a clergyman of one order – either Greek Orthodox or Armenian Apostolic – accidentally pushed his broom into space  ‘controlled’ by the other group. Conflict is easily sparked by any perceived encroachment of jurisdictional boundaries within the church, where control is split between the two denominations along with Roman Catholics. All three groups were cleaning the church for annual Orthodox Christmas celebrations, which will be held next week. Palestinian police lieutenant-colonel Khaled al-Tamimi tried to play down the incident, saying there had been a ‘trivial problem’.  He added: ‘Everything is all right and things have returned to normal. No one was arrested because all those involved were men of God.’ The 6th century church is the oldest in the Holy Land and a very fragile status quo governs relations among the three denominations. To repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another’s expense. Tensions between rival clergy at the church have been a fact of life for centuries and the site has often been caught up in international politics. In the 19th century, tensions over the church – and the wider issue of Orthodox Christians in Ottoman lands – was a factor in the outbreak of the Crimean War. Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and  leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, renovation has been delayed for years by disagreements among the denominations over who would foot the bill. 'Guarding their denominational turf': Clerics were said to be defending their areas of the Church when the 100-strong scuffle broke out Skirmish: A member from the Armenian clergy raises his arms as Palestinian police officers try to restore order at the Church of Nativity.  Officials hope work will begin next year under a deal brokered by the Palestinian Authority.  In the annual clean-up session, the entire church is swept, dusted and cleaned with kerosene to remove the grime of the past 12 months in preparation for the onslaught of more pilgrims, clergy and tourists.  Several hundred clergy take part with help from worshippers. In the 1980s, monks battled each other with chains and broomsticks over who had the right to clean a particular section of wall and beams. Keep back: The clashing denominations each control sections of the church and fiercely guard their turf, which spilled over into violence in the holy building. At one point a ladder was yanked out from under a cleric, who was working 16ft overhead.  A fight over the dusting of chandeliers at Christmas 2006 landed  several men in the hospital after the Greek Orthodox contingent placed a ladder in Armenian territory.  Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is built on the  traditional site of the crucifixion, has seen similar incidents. Peace restored: Palestinian special forces watch as Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergy perform the annual cleaning of the church This is what they should have been doing: Greek Orthodox clean the floor of the Church of Nativity after the brawl . They are one of the most recognised symbols of the festive season, emulated in nativity plays all over the world and whose imagery adorns the front of millions of Christmas cards. However the three wise men who presented the newborn baby Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh could have been larger in numbers if a new interpretation of an ancient document is correct.  An eighth-century script has been translated into English for the first time and throws an incredible new light on the Christmas story. Nativity scene: The imagery of the three wise men has been recreated on Christmas cards all over the world.  The translation of the mysterious 'Revelation of the Magi' describes how the three wise men actually numbered over a dozen and came from a faraway land, possibly China. The Magi was the term, used from at least the fourth century BC, for ancient stargazers who were able to read and manipulate the fate foretold in the skies. The script also reveals how it was Jesus himself who was the famous star followed by the Magi. Brent Landau, a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma, spent two years translating the eighth-century text from its original Syriac. The document has been held in the Vatican for 250 years and the story is thought to have been first told in the late second, or early third, century. This takes it back to possibly just 100 years after Matthew wrote his Gospel - the only one to include the story of the Magi. Matthew never mentions how many the Magi numbered; they are described as three wise men simply because there were three gifts. You might need a bigger cast: The latest revelation could change the face of nativity school plays across the world (file photo) There could have been several scores of them, according to the new translation. The authors of the document claim it was penned by the Magi. However experts do not believe this to be the case and say it could have been written by their descendents, as it carries detailed accounts of their prayers and rituals. Professor Landau thinks the sect that wrote it identified with the mystics. The story tells how the Magi were descended from Adam’s third and righteous son, Seth. It says they came from a semi-mythical place called Shir, which is on the eastern edge of the world - where modern-day China is.  Prof Landau said: 'The story says that Seth passed down a prophecy that at some point a star would appear that would signal the birth of God in human form.  'The Magi waited thousands of years, passing down the prophecy and then the star appeared where the Magi were.  'It transformed into a small luminous human being who was Christ himself in a pre-existent, celestial form. New light: The document has been held in the Vatican (pictured) for 250 years and the story is thought to have been first told in the late second or early third century. 'It is saying that Jesus Christ and the Star of Bethlehem are the same thing and Jesus Christ can transform himself into anything. 'The star guides them to Bethlehem and into a cave where it transforms into a human infant who tells them to go back and be preachers of the Gospel. 'Later the Apostle Thomas turns up and baptises the Magi and tells them to go into the world. Timeline of an Ancient Text 2nd/3rd century: Original story written 8th century: Current manuscript produced - For a millennium, it is unclear where the text was - 18th century: a collector finds the manuscript - written on a parchment made from animal skin- in a Turkish monastery It was given it to the Vatican library and archived away into obscurity 1927: The Vatican publishes the text into Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic used by Christians in the Middle East ) but it is again overlooked and forgotten 2000s: Harvard Divinity School scholar Brent Landau finds the document and spends seven years translating the text from Syriac to English 'The story does say that the Magi brought gifts to Jesus, but interestingly the text never tells us if they are the familiar gold, frankincense, and myrrh.' Prof Landau said it is unknown who wrote the text but added: 'Somebody was really fascinated by the wise men to have created this big, long story and tell it from their perspective.  'The Revelation of the Magi is part of the Christian Apocrypha and was written in the Syriac language that was spoken by Christians from Syria through Iran and Iraq. 'There might have been a community who were using the Magi or its persona to get its religious perspective across. 'There are many details of strange rituals, praying and silence. There is a description of a sacred mountain and purification at a sacred spring. 'The detail is so great I wondered if it was the community’s actual practices that were being described. 'There is much in the Revelation of the Magi which is not self evident why it is there. 'Nobody knows where Matthew got the story from so along with Matthew’s Gospel this is as close as you can get to the Magi.' In terms of the text itself, very little is known about its origins. It is unclear who wrote it or when, though academics think it is an 8th century manuscript written from a story from the second or third century. After, it is unsure where the text was for a millennium until a collector stumbled across it in a Turkish monastery in the eighteenth century. The collector then transferred the document, written on Vellum, a type of parchment made from animal skin, to the Vatican Library. It was then lost, archived away in Syriac until a Harvard student, Brent Landau, spent almost a decade translating the text.     Stable where he was born, a simple silver star set in marble marks the spot where Jesus was born. The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Christ, and it is considered sacred by followers of both Christianity and Islam (see Islamic View of Jesus). The antiquity of this tradition is attested by the Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. 100 - 165), who noted in his Dialogue with Trypho that the Holy Family had taken refuge in a cave outside of town. Origen of Alexandria (185 AD–ca. 254) wrote: In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the rumor is in those places, and among foreigners of the Faith, that indeed Jesus was born in this cave. An ancient synagogue unearthed on the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee may have been a temple where Jesus preached, according to the Christian organisation that owns the site. Archaeologists have been excavating the 2,000-year-old ruins, which date from the 1st century, in the town of Migdal in northern Israel. The town is thought to sit on top of what was the ancient town of Magdala, the birth place of Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus' most devoted followers.   The synagogue ruins, pictured, were first uncovered in 2009 and they are thought to date back 2,000 years During excavations in preparation for the construction of a new hotel on beachfront on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, archaeologists uncovered a delicately carved stone featuring menorah, a seven branched candelabrum that is a symbol in Judaism. Migdal is the modern-day name for the village of Magdala, situated on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee at the foot of Mount Arbel. Magdala is said to have been the hometown of Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus' most loyal followers. She is referred to in the gospels as Mary, and it is believed that her name was a variation of 'Mary from Magdala'. Researchers are studying the site looking for clues about how and when Magdalene first met and began following Jesus. Now the Legions of Christ, the Catholic organisation which owns the land where the synagogue was discovered, are now claiming that Jesus himself may have preached there. Father Eamon Kelly, vice chargé of the Pontifical Institute Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre, told Israeli news website Haaretz that there was now strong evidence that Jesus had preached there. He said: 'This is the first synagogue ever excavated were Jesus walked and preached. 'He was a clever rabbi. He knew where to set up shop. If you walk from Nazareth to Bethsaida to Capernaum, you're going to come out here.' Father Kelly said that although Jerusalem and Bethlehem are more commonly associated with Jesus, he actually spent 80 per cent of his life in what is now northern Israel. The book of Matthew in the bible also mentions Jesus setting food in Magdala, saying: 'He took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.' Until the town of Tiberias was built, the only town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee was Magdala, which sat along an ancient trade route from Egypt to Syria.     The site of the ancient synagogue had been covered in litter and weeds for years before excavations began It is thought to be here that he met with Mary Magdalene, or Mary of Magdala as she is also known. Father Kelly said that the ancient synagogue would have served as a meeting point where people in the town would have gathered. He said: 'If a strange rabbi came to town, a new rabbi, a new preacher, a new teacher, the logical place was to meet here.' The synagogue is thought to have existed during what is known as the Second Temple period. Experts believe it was originally built in the 1 CE and was a simple structure before being refurbished in 40 CE.   This stone, with carvings on each site and the top including one of a seven-branched candelabrum, was found in what was the main hall of the synagogue, which also had a mosaic floor and plaster walls Archaeologists have discovered a main hall that is around 1,291 square feet, with stone benches built up against the wall of the hall. The floor is made of mosaic and the walls appear to have been treated with coloured plaster. It is in this hall that the engraved limestone block featuring the menorah, along with carved images of amphora, was discovered. The reliefs are the oldest menorah ever found on stone. Archaeologists believe the block was probably used for reading or writing the Torah. According to archaeologists, the synagogue was probably destroyed in around 67 or 68 CE by the Romans during their first war with the Jews. In addition to the synagogue, excavations around the site have also uncovered ancient baths and fishing pools. 'Actually what the archaeologists are saying now is we're digging up an entire 1st century city,' said Father Kelly.   The site will ultimately have a visitor's centre, hotel, restaurant and inter-faith chapel built around the ruins There is still another 12 acres of the site to be excavated. The Legion of Christ, which is creating a Magdala visitors centre on the site, are also planning to build a hospice and restaurant along with an inter-faith chapel. Some 5,000 people have visited the site, according to the Magdala Centre. According to the excavation director, Dina Avshalom-Gorni, excavation director with the Israel Antiquities Authority, said: 'We are dealing with an exciting and unique find. Turin Shroud is stained with the blood of a torture victim, new research shows - supporting the belief that it DOES show the face of Jesus Experts claim there is blood on the Shroud which is not typical of healthy person They say it contains creatinine and ferritin, found in those who suffered trauma The findings contradict claims that the Shroud was painted by Medieval forgers The shroud is currently being displayed at St John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin   Experts have claimed the Shroud of Turin is stained with the blood of a torture victim, supporting claims it was used to bury Jesus. They say the linen cloth, believed to have been used to wrap Christ's body after crucifixion, contains 'nanoparticles' which are not typical of the blood of a healthy person. The alleged findings contradict claims the face of Jesus was painted on by forgers in medieval times.   shows the Holy Shroud, a 14 foot-long linen revered by some as the burial cloth of Jesus, displayed at the Cathedral of Turin, Italy. The long linen with the faded image of a bearded man is the object of centuries-old fascination and wonderment, and closely kept under wrap. Now, for six weeks, both the curious and those convinced the Turin Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ can have a brief look. By late March, 1.3 million people had reserved their three-to-five-minute chance to gaze at the cloth, which is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case. Organizers said earlier this year they hoped some 2 million pilgrims and tourists would see the linen during the special viewing from Saturday April 10 to May 23. The Turin Shroud DOES have miraculous powers... whether it is genuine or not Italian scientists claim shroud was created by 'supernatural event' as burst of ultra-violet light necessary to leave imprint on cloth wasn't then possible Implication from research is that image of Jesus was scorched onto linen by divinely generated light given out by His body Shroud believers welcome new scientific research 'proving' its existence But Vatican still refuses to comment on the long-running saga Puzzle: The Turin Shroud's origin is endlessly debated. Still, the Catholic Church has placed the cloth in a cathedral as an object of worship The Catholic Church has never publicly accepted or rejected popular belief that the Turin Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. But it has done everything short of that to encourage devotion to this ancient piece of linen, on display in Turin Cathedral, which bears the markings of a man who appears to have been crucified. The extraordinary sepia image on the cloth is simply — as Pope Benedict XVI likes to put it in that careful, precise way of his — ‘an image that reminds us always of Christ’s suffering’. Yet, this week, a group of Italian scientists claimed the shroud was created by a ‘supernatural event’ rather than the machinations of medieval forgers. The academics concluded that the sort of burst of ultra-violet light necessary to have left such an imprint on the cloth just wasn’t possible by any human endeavour in any age other than our own technically advanced one with its access to lasers. The implication of their findings is that the image was scorched on to the linen as a result of a divinely generated light given out by Jesus’s body when he rose from the dead. Believers in the shroud hail the research by scientists at Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) as proof that it is genuinely the cloth of Christ. They claim it backs up the work of a group of American scientists from the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) from the Seventies. These scientists established by careful analysis of the fibres of the cloth that the image of the bearded, crucified man had not been painted on to the cloth. It was not, they concluded, ‘a natural formation’. Science, say the believers, appears to have provided no reasonable answer to counter the belief of generations of Christians that this is the image of Christ on the shroud in which his body was wrapped when it was taken down from the cross.   Scientists in Italy believe the kind of technology needed to create the Shroud of Turin simply wasn't around at the time that it was created. Still the Vatican steadfastly refuses to be drawn again into the saga And yet, despite this latest research supposedly proving its authenticity, the Vatican has steadfastly refused to be drawn again into the long-running saga of the shroud. The question is why. Why, if the science seems so certain, won’t the Catholic Church endorse this piece of cloth as the genuine article? One reason is that the new research still cannot get round the main stumbling block when it comes to proving the shroud’s authenticity. In 1988, three separate and internationally acclaimed laboratories in Zurich, Oxford and Arizona carbon-dated samples of the cloth, provided by the Church, and came up with 1260 to 1390 as its probable date of origin. In other words, that research showed it to be a medieval forgery. And in the 23 years since,  the best that the shroud’s devotees have come up with to counter this incontrovertible fact is a theory that all three samples that were carbon-dated were contaminated — that they contained rogue fibres from later medieval attempts to patch and mend the original shroud. There are plenty of papers that try to make this thesis stand up, but the overall impression is of whistling in the wind. So why do people flock to see the shroud on the rare occasions it is put on public show in its glass, climate- controlled display case? The most straightforward answer is that we like a mystery and this one is about as tantalising as it gets. For just as the Church has never felt able to pronounce definitively on the shroud, neither has science come up with a water-tight theory as to exactly what it is and how the image came about. The shroud therefore exists in a kind of middle ground — where we can all pronounce our own verdict. But once you start considering the possibilities of how it was created, you immediately get in a tangle. If it is a medieval forgery, then how can its image have been created by methods beyond the wit of humankind at that time?   Why do people flock to see the shroud? We like mystery. Since neither the church nor science have come up with a definitive answer, the shroud exists in middle ground, where we can make our own verdict One of the most intriguing aspects is that the image of Christ is hard to pick out with the naked eye in the sepia markings on the cloth, which is 4½m long and just over a metre in width. But, when at the very end of the 19th century, a photographic negative of the image was first produced, it looked every inch like the face of Christ. How could a medieval forger have produced something so exact 500 years before the technology existed to make a negative image? Yet the sceptics could easily counter this with an argument of their own. Even if the shroud is really 2,000 years old and the carbon-dating laboratories mistaken, they point out what is there to link it to Jesus? Crucifixion was a common method of putting criminals to death back under the Romans. This might just as well be the funeral wrappings of a run-of-the-mill murderer or thief. Indeed, one theory popular among supporters of the medieval forgery theory is that it was made centuries after the death of Christ by crucifying someone in exactly the same manner as described in the Gospel accounts and then wrapping the victim in a shroud. The further you go into this mystery, the murkier the waters become. And if you go so far as to visit Turin (for 500 years the shroud belonged to the locally based royal house of Savoy) and stand in front of the display case, there is undeniably a certain awe about this object.   The Resurrection of Christ, 1463-65, fresco by Piero della Francesca: The Vatican - which owns the Turin shroud - shies away from statements over whether it is real or fake, but says it helps to explore the 'darkest mysteries of faith' It springs, to my mind, not from any air of authenticity that the object itself radiates, but from the knowledge that for centuries people have been making precisely the same pilgrimage as I and so many others have done to gaze at this piece of cloth. It stems from the fact that they have harboured exactly the same hopes that by doing so, somehow, they will be able to reach a final conclusion on the truth or not of the very claims of Christianity. How comforting it would be to know, for sure, if there is a God. What is important today about the shroud is not whether it is genuinely the burial cloth of Jesus — we are never going to reach a consensus on that — but rather that over many centuries people have believed in it. It is this history of belief that is the really powerful thing. At a stroke it carries us back through centuries of Christianity and connects our sceptical, secular and scientific age with an earlier epoch of miracles and faith. This is why the Catholic Church refuse to be drawn on the Turin Shroud. As Pope Benedict says, it is an extraordinarily powerful image of Christ’s suffering —  and made so because of the faith people have in it, whether it is genuine or not. On its own, the shroud is never going to be enough to legitimise belief in the core tenet of Christianity — the Resurrection of Jesus. But nevertheless, it is a powerful focus for our thoughts on the subject — a symbol of the hopes of so many who embrace Christianity without any conclusive proof other than their own belief. And that, surely, is the point about religion — a point we are in danger of missing now that every belief and theory is judged to be worthless unless it can be put under a microscope by scientists and proved, irrefutably, to be true. Some things, some important things, just don’t fit into this rigid, logical model of the world. Science, as the saga of the shroud epitomises, can never get to the bottom of faith. The shocking discovery of Pilates Letter to Caesar describes the true Face of Jesus Christ. In addition, Pontius Pilates Stone Proves the existence of Jesus Christ. This bible story and bible study reveals a surprising hidden secret about the true physical attributes and true face of Jesus Christ? What was Jesus skin color? What was the color and nature of Jesus hair? How did he speak? What did Jesus really look like? All these and more are revealed in the letter of Pilate about Jesus, the Christ, and the savior of the world. Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ - in atonement for our sins and for the sins of the whole world because of His bitter suffering,  have mercy on the whole world. ":Oh dearest Jesus lamb of God most meek, I am a miserable sinner render homage and worship to the wounds upon thy shoulder which cause thee greatest suffering among thy other wounds, caused by the unmeasurable weight of the Cross.  Vouchsafe to grant me to have mercy and forgive me, my mortal and venial sins  and guide me on to Heaven thru the Way of the Cross. Amen" 'The synagogue that was uncovered joins just six other synagogues in the world that are known to date to the Second Temple period.' 25 A cross is seen back dropped by the Church of Nativity, traditionally believed by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, during a Christmas parade in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday, Dec. 24, 2010. Thousands of tourists, pilgrims and clergy converged on Bethlehem on Friday as the town of Jesus' birth prepared to celebrate Christmas Eve. Church of Nativity inside Palestinian Authority. The Church of the Nativity in the heart of Bethlehem marks one of Christianity's most sacred sites - the birthplace of Christ. Situated on Manger Square 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Jerusalem, the church is built over a grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have given birth to Jesus. The church's large fortress-like exterior stands as a testament to its turbulent history. For centuries, it was one of the most fought over holy places. It was seized and defended by a succession of armies - including Muslim and Crusader forces. It is controlled jointly by three Christian denominations - the Armenian Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church. 26 A nun prays at the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on December 24, 2010 as the Holy Land prepares to mark Christmas. (MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty Images) # The Sugar Plum Fairy, Sharon Wehner, prepares to take the stage during a production of The Nutcracker by the Colorado Ballet, Tuesday December 21, 2010. This is the Colorado Ballet's 50th Anniversary Season and the 50th year presenting the classic story of Clara and the Nutcracker Prince in the Land of Sweets. A Russian tourist touches a column inside the Church of the Nativity, where many Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010. So far this year, 1.4 million tourists have visited the traditional birthplace of Jesus and 90,000 are expected during the Christmas season, a significant increase over last year, according to Israeli government figures. The numbers of visitors have been rising steadily in recent years. An Israeli geologist claims he has ‘confirmed’ the existence and authenticity of a tomb belonging to Jesus and his son in Jerusalem. After extensive chemical tests, Dr Arye Shimron says he has linked the James Ossuary – a 1st-century chalk box that some believe hold the bones of Jesus' brother – to the long disputed ‘Jesus Family tomb’ in the city’s East Talpiot neighbourhood. The research could have enormous ramifications as it suggests that Jesus was married, fathered a child and that a physical resurrection did not take place. Scroll down for video +7 After running 150 chemical tests, an expert claims to have linked the James Ossuary (pictured) – a 1st-century chalk box that was used for containing the bones of the dead – to the long disputed ‘Jesus Family tomb’ in the city’s East Talpiot neighbourhood According to geoarcheologist Dr Shimron, the 'son of God' was buried with nine other people, including ‘Judah, son of Jesus’ and his wife, named Mary. Dr Shimron’s work has renewed controversy over the Talpiot tomb, which was discovered in 1980 and dates back to the Second Temple period and the time of Jesus,The Jerusalem Post reported. Bones were discovered inside ossuaries, including one that bore the inscription, ‘Jesus, son of Joseph'. Others included the names Maria, Joseph, Mary, Yose, Matthew and most controversially, ‘Judah, son of Jesus’. Joseph, Mary and Jesus were all common names at the time and a statistician from the University of Toronto said that they each made up eight per cent of the population. However, a very small percentage would have had the same family name combination as described in the Bible. +7 Dr Shimron’s work has renewed the controversy over the Talpiot tomb, which was found in 1980 and dates back to the Second Temple period and the time of Jesus (a portrait is pictured) +7 The long-disputed long disputed ‘Jesus Family tomb’ in the city’s East Talpiot neighbourhood (marked) and is now sealed beneath a concrete slab after building work took place some years ago Probing this connection, Dr Shimron and documentary maker Simcha Jacobovici looked closer at the ossuaries, including the James Ossuary, which is held by a private owner and bears the inscription, ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’. WHAT IS THE JAMES OSSUARY? The James Ossuary is a first century chalk example of a box that was used to hold the bones of the dead. But it stands out because it bears the inscription 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus' on one side. The inscription is considered significant because it may provide archaeological evidence of Jesus, The existence of the ossuary was announced in 2002, but its authenticity was immediately challenged. The box's owner was charged with forging part of the inscription and while he was found innocent seven years later, the judge said the acquittal 'does not mean that the inscription on the ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago'. Now, Dr Shimron claims the chemical signature on the ‘crust’ of the box matches that of a tomb in Jerusalem known as the ‘Jesus Family tomb’ where other ossuaries were found bearing the names of Jesus and Mary as well as ‘Judah, son of Jesus’. The owner of the ossuary, Oded Golan, was accused of forging the inscription shortly after its discovery by an academic from the Sorbonne in Paris, but he was later found innocent. Other experts and archaeologists have rejected the claim that the Jerusalem tomb is connected with Jesus at all. Recently Dr Shimron gained access to the James Ossuary and scraped beneath the box's patina, the layer that forms on metal over time. He ran around 150 tests on the chemistry of samples from 25 different ossuaries – 15 of which were from unrelated tombs – and found that traces of magnesium, iron and silicon from the James Ossuary matched the chemical signature of Talpiot tomb. The Talpiot ossuaries were covered in a thick layer of ‘Rendzina’ soil, which is characteristic of the hills of East Jerusalem when they were found and has a unique chemistry. Dr Shimron worked from the assumption that an earthquake of 363AD flooded the tomb with soil and mud to cover the ossuaries, effectively forming a vacuum and freezing them in time. Soil that seeped into the box matched that found in the Talpiot ossuaries, indicating that it had lain for years alongside others in the ‘holy’ location. Looking back at the moment the Talpiot tomb was discovered +7 Bones were discovered there in ossuaries, or chalk boxes, including one that bears the inscription, ‘Jesus, son of Joseph' with others bearing the names of Maria, Joseph, Mary, Yose, Matthew and most controversially, ‘Judah, son of Jesus’. Here an inscription that says 'Yoseph' on an ossuary +7 Because bones were found in the ossuaries, it could be argued that there was no bodily resurrection (portrayed in this tapestry) which is the belief of more traditional Christians, while others accept the event was spiritual JESUS IS A MYTH AND WAS PROBABLY MANY PEOPLE, WRITER CLAIMS Jesus Christ was not a real person and is probably the result of a combination of stories about several different individuals, according to a writer and leading atheist activist. David Fitzgerald, a San Francisco based author, believes he has compiled compelling evidence that proves Jesus did not exist. He claims there are no contemporary mentions of Jesus in historical accounts from the time when he was supposed to have lived, yet other Jewish sect leaders from the time do appear. +7 Jesus Christ was not a real person and is probably the result of a combination of stories about several different individuals, according to a writer and leading atheist activist. A mosaic of Christ is shown He also points to discrepancies in the early gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, claiming these were written decades after the supposed time of Jesus. Instead he insists the disciples of Jesus were also probably not real and their names only later attached to the gospels to lend them credence. Speaking to MailOnline, he said: 'There is a paradox that Jesus did all these amazing things and taught all these amazing things yet no one heard of him outside his immediate cult for nearly 100 years. 'Or it means he didn't do all these things at all. 'The first gospel of Christianity appears to have been a literary allegory that were written decades after the time they portray. 'I believe that Christianity started as one of the many mystery faiths that appeared at the time where old Gods and old traditions were rebooted. 'Christianity appears to have been a Jewish mystery faith. +7 David Fitzgerald told MailOnline: 'There is a paradox that Jesus did all these amazing things and taught all these amazing things yet no one heard of him outside his immediate cult for nearly 100 years'. The famous statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is shown 'By the time of Paul there appears to have been plenty of different "Lord's suppers" as he complains about the existence of other gospels and messiahs. 'It appears that early Christianity managed to take the stories from these other faiths and incorporate them into the story of Jesus.' Mr Fitzgerald said: 'There is nothing implausible to think that Jesus was a real person, but I just don't think that he can have been a single person if he existed at all. 'We also have no mention of Jesus in other historical texts from the time. There were certainly people writing about Judea at the time like Philo of Alexandria. 'During this period there were many other messiahs and wannabe messiahs who did far less exciting things than Jesus, but all of them managed something Jesus did not - to make a dent on the historical record. 'Two billion people believe all these miracles happened yet there is no evidence they did.' Jacobovici told The Jerusalem Post: ‘This find illustrates that the James Ossuary is authentic and the Jesus Family tomb indeed belongs to the family of Jesus of Nazareth.’ Dr Shumron told The New York Times: ‘I think I’ve got really powerful, virtually unequivocal evidence that the James ossuary spent most of its lifetime, or death time, in the Talpiot Tomb.’ The retired senior researchers of the Geological Survey of Israel, added: ‘ The evidence is beyond what I expected.’ The duo are aware that the findings could rock the Christian church, but insist the research is scientific and not theological. Because bones were found in the ossuaries, it could be argued that there was no bodily resurrection, which is the belief of more traditional Christians, while others accept the event was spiritual. The Talpiot tomb is now sealed under a concrete slab, while the ossuaries found there are in the hands of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The James Ossuary is kept in a secret location by its owner, who lives in Tel Aviv. with wife and supposed son - Christian iencetech/article-3028617/Was-Jesus-buried-wife-son-Chemical-signature-links-James-Ossuary-Jesus-Family-tomb-geologist-claims.html#ixzz3Wf90IJZi Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook The Jerusalem tomb of Jesus restored: Historic shrine that houses the cave where it is said Christ was buried on a slab and rose to heaven to reopen Edicule is a shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven The limestone and marble structure stands at the center of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem Shrine needed urgent attention after years of exposure to water, humidity and candle smoke Restorers cut small window from the shrine's marble walls for pilgrims to see bare stone of the burial cave The tomb of Jesus has been resurrected to its former glory. Just in time for Easter, a Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. Restorers have now cut a small window from the shrine's marble walls for pilgrims to see - for the first time - the bare stone of the ancient burial cave.   +10 The renovated Edicule is seen in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. Gone is the unsightly iron cage built around the shrine by British authorities in 1947 to shore up the walls and the black soot on the shrine's stone façade from decades of pilgrims lighting candles. And gone are fears about the stability of the old shrine, which hadn't been restored in more than 200 years. 'If this intervention hadn't happened now, there is a very great risk that there could have been a collapse,' Bonnie Burnham of the World Monuments Fund said. 'This is a complete transformation of the monument.' +10 A Greek priest stands by a window into the burial chamber of Jesus' tomb for pilgrims to see what is believed to be the original stone wall of the burial cave inside the renovated Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city Monday, Mar. 20, 2017. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. The fund provided an initial $1.4 million for the $4 million restoration, thanks to a donation by the widow of the founder of Atlantic Records.  Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also chipped in about 150,000 euros each, along with other private and church donations, Burnham said. The limestone and marble structure stands at the center of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one of the world's oldest churches - a 12th-century building standing on 4th-century remains.  The shrine needed urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke. Three main Christian denominations jealously guard separate sections of the church, but they put aside their longstanding religious rivalries to give their blessing for the restoration.  HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE +10 Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago, shown in this painting by Friedrich Overbeck Christian tradition says Christ's body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house'. An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus' body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection.  Jewish tradition forbade burial within the walls of a city, and the Gospels specify that Jesus was buried outside of Jerusalem, near the site of his crucifixion on Golgotha, also known as 'the place of skulls'. However, soon after the burial, the walls of Jerusalem were expanded, putting Golgotha and the nearby tomb within the city itself. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD built a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite in order to bury the cave in which Jesus had been buried, and assert the dominance of Roman state religion. The first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered in 325 that the temple be replaced by a church.  When his representatives arrived in Jerusalem to attempt to locate the tomb, they were sent to the temple built by Hadrian 200 years earlier. The Roman temple was razed and excavations beneath it revealed a rock-cut tomb. The top of the cave was sheared off to expose the interior, and a church was built around it to enclose the tomb. During the building of the Church, Constantine's mother Helena claimed to have rediscovered the 'true cross'.  It is claimed that she found three crosses she tested each by having it held over a corpse and when the corpse rose up under one, that was the true cross. The church was then completely destroyed by in 1009 by the Fatmid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, known as the 'mad Caliph' or 'Nero of Islam' in a bid to destroy Christian sites. +10 What and where: A floor plan of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with the Edicule chamber marked in red on the left It was then rebuilt once again in the mid-11th century, when an agreement was reached between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027–8. The rebuilding was finally completed with the financing at a huge expense by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048.  The rebuilt church site consisted of 'a court open to the sky, with five small chapels attached to it'. A 12th-century restoration by the Crusaders gave the Holy Sepulchre its current appearance, while in 1808 a fire all but destroyed the Edicule. In 1852, the Ottoman authorities then governing the Holy Land provided a framework for resolving disputes inside the church.  +10 This picture shows workers removing the top of the tomb of Jesus Christ in the Church of Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning 'little house It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it but repairs are long overdue as the structure was damaged in an earthquake in 1927.  Excavations inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the 20th century revealed remains of what is believed to be Hadrian's temple and walls from Constantine's original church.  Archaeologists also found an ancient limestone quarry and at least half a dozen other rock-cut tombs, some of which can be seen today.   In 2015, Israeli police briefly shut down the building after Israel's Antiquities Authority deemed it unsafe, and repairs began in June 2016. A restoration team from the National Technical University of Athens stripped the stone slabs from the shrine's façade and patched up the internal masonry of the shrine, injecting it with tubes of grout for reinforcement.  +10 A Greek priest stands inside the renovated Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city Monday, Mar. 20, 2017. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. +10 Faithful visit the renovated Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city Monday, Mar. 20, 2017. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. Each stone slab was cleaned of candle soot and pigeon droppings, then put back in place.  Titanium bolts were inserted into the structure for reinforcement, and frescos and the shrine's painted dome were given a face-lift. The restorers also made some discoveries. On Oct. 26, the team entered the inner sanctum of the shrine, the burial chamber of Jesus, and temporarily slid open an old marble layer covering the bedrock where Jesus' body is said to have been placed. Below the outer marble layer was a white rose marble slab engraved with a cross, which the team dated to the late Crusader period of the 14th century.  THE BURIAL SLAB WHERE CHRIST'S BODY WAS LAID  Christian tradition says Christ’s body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago. The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning ‘little house.’ +10 The burial slab (pictured being revealed from its marble case) many Christians believe once held the body of Jesus Christ has been uncovered by scientists for the first time in centuries. The original surface, partially shown in this picture, was exposed during restoration work at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus' body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection.  It stands a few hundred yards from the site of Jesus' crucifixion. With its stone staircases, gilded ornamentation and many dark chambers, the church is one of Christianity's holiest shrines.   Beneath that marble slab was an even older, grey marble slab protecting the bedrock, and mortar on the slab dates to the 4th century, when Roman Emperor Constantine ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built. The restorers have cut a small window from the shrine's marble walls for pilgrims to see - for the first time - the bare stone of the ancient burial cave. 'It seems we are in front of levels of history that are validated,' said Antonia Moropoulou, who supervised the renovation. +10 The renovated Edicule is seen in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city Monday, Mar. 20, 2017. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. +10 The renovated Edicule is seen in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem's old city Monday, Mar. 20, 2017. A Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven. The team is dismantling its worksite ahead of a ceremony Wednesday to mark the completion of the renovation, in the presence of two representatives of dueling Christian denominations - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, and a representative of Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church. Concern for the church's stability has brought Christian denominations together, and Moropoulou hopes it ushers in a 'new era' of cooperation.  She hopes the communities will make some changes in longstanding customs inside the church, like pilgrims smashing their lit candles onto the Edicule's stone wall, so the structure is not compromised. Now, money is being raised for another round of restorations - consolidating drainage and sewage pipes underground, around the tomb, to stabilize its foundations - so renovations won't be needed for years to come. 'Here is a monument that has been worshipped through the centuries, and will be worshipped forever,' said Moropoulou.

Mysterious 60,000 ton stone 'grave marker' at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee baffles archaeologists 4,000-year-old cairn  found at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee - where Jesus gave his sermons. Structure is ten meters high, 70 meters wide and 200 meters under water. A 60,000 tonne stone structure has been discovered at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The giant cone-shaped cairn, which is made of basalt cobbles and boulders up to one meter long, has left archaeologists baffled as to its purpose and age. Heavier than most modern-day warships, the structure is nearly ten meters high and 70 meters wide. The structure, which is more than 200 meters below the surface of the water, is made from rocks stacked on top of each other A 60,000 tonne stone structure has been discovered at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee in Israel THE SEA OF GALILEE The Sea of Galilee is the largest freshwater lake in Israel - it is approximately 13 miles long and eight miles wide. It has a total area of 64 square miles and a depth of 141 feet. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and it is fed partly by underground springs and partly by the Jordan River. It was first discovered in 2003 by researchers carrying out a sonar survey of the sea, but divers have now been down to investigate further and have published their findings in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. They believe that the structure, which is more than 200 meters below the surface of the water, is made from rocks stacked on top of each other which could indicate that it was design to mark a grave. It is thought that it was made on land and then submerged as sea levels rose. However, there is also a theory that it could have been created below the water as a fish nursery -similar smaller structures have been discovered in the past which were built for that purpose. The researchers will now carry out underwater archaeological excavations in an attempt to find associated artefacts that could tell them more about it. Researcher Dr Yitzhak Paz, of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ben-Gurion University, told LiveScience that it could date back more than 4,000 years making it an Early Bronze Age artefact. The giant cone-shaped cairn, which is made of basalt cobbles and boulders up to one meter long, has left archaeologists baffled as to its purpose and age (the map shows where it was found) He said: ‘The most logical possibility is that it belongs to the third millennium B.C., because there are other megalithic phenomena [from that time] that are found close by.’ If it does prove to be from this era, then it could be connected to the city Bet Yerah which was one of the biggest sites in the area at the time. THE LOCATION OF JESUS'S SERMONS Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish, in the Sea of Galilee, by Raphael. Many of Jesus's sermons were preached on the shores of the lake at a time when there was a string of villages around the water's edge. In the time of the Byzantine Empire the lake's significance in Jesus's life made it a major destination for Christian pilgrims. Its importance declined when the Byzantines lost control and the area came under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate. At this time all of the major cities in the area, other than Tiberias, were abandoned. In 1187, Saladin defeated the armies of the Crusades at the Battle of Hattin, largely because he was able to cut the Crusaders off from the valuable fresh water of the Sea of Galilee Dr Paz told LiveScience: ‘It's the most powerful and fortified town in this region and, as a matter of fact, in the whole of Israel.’ While details about the structure remain sketchy, the researchers are confident that it was created by a well-organised society and that it’s building was a community effort. Sonar signatures revealed the scale of the find Heavier than most modern-day warships, the structure is nearly ten meters high and 70 meters wide Is this the first ever portrait of Jesus? The incredible story of 70 ancient books hidden in a cave for nearly 2,000 years The image is eerily familiar: a bearded young man with flowing curly hair. After lying for nearly 2,000 years hidden in a cave in the Holy Land, the fine detail is difficult to determine. But in a certain light it is not difficult to interpret the marks around the figure’s brow as a crown of thorns. The extraordinary picture of one of the recently discovered hoard of up to 70 lead codices – booklets – found in a cave in the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee is one reason Bible historians are clamouring to get their hands on the ancient artefacts. If genuine, this could be the first-ever portrait of Jesus Christ, possibly even created in the lifetime of those who knew him. Discovery: The impression on this booklet cover shows what could be the earliest image of Christ The tiny booklet, a little smaller than a modern credit card, is sealed on all sides and has a three-dimensional representation of a human head on both the front and the back. One appears to have a beard and the other is without. Even the maker’s fingerprint can be seen in the lead impression. Beneath both figures is a line of as-yet undeciphered text in an ancient Hebrew script. Astonishingly, one of the booklets appears to bear the words ‘Saviour of Israel’ – one of the few phrases so far translated. More... Buy the Holy Bible with MailLife.co.uk The owner of the cache is Bedouin trucker Hassan Saida who lives in the Arab village of Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli. He has refused to sell the booklets but two samples were sent to England and Switzerland for testing. A Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed that the artefacts were originally found in a cave in the village of Saham in Jordan, close to where Israel, Jordan and Syria’s Golan Heights converge – and within three miles of the Israeli spa and hot springs of Hamat Gader, a religious site for thousands of years. Precious: This booklet shows what scholars believe to be the map of Christian Jerusalem According to sources in Saham, they were discovered five years ago after a flash flood scoured away the dusty mountain soil to reveal what looked like a large capstone. When this was levered aside, a cave was discovered with a large number of small niches set into the walls. Each of these niches contained a booklet. There were also other objects, including some metal plates and rolled lead scrolls. The area is renowned as an age-old refuge for ancient Jews fleeing the bloody aftermath of a series of revolts against the Roman empire in the First and early Second Century AD. The cave is less than 100 miles from Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, and around 60 miles from Masada, scene of the last stand and mass suicide of an extremist Zealot sect in the face of a Roman Army siege in 72AD – two years after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It is also close to caves that have been used as sanctuaries by refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt, the third and final Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire in 132AD. The era is of critical importance to Biblical scholars because it encompasses the political, social and religious upheavals that led to the split between Judaism and Christianity. It ended with the triumph of Christianity over its rivals as the dominant new religion first for dissident Jews and then for Gentiles. In this context, it is important that while the Dead Sea Scrolls are rolled pieces of parchment or papyrus containing the earliest-known versions of books of the Hebrew Bible and other texts – the traditional Jewish format for written work – these lead discoveries are in book, or codex, form which has long been associated with the rise of Christianity. The codices seen by The Mail on Sunday range in size from smaller than 3in x 2in to around 10in x 8in. They each contain an average of eight or nine pages and appear to be cast, rather than inscribed, with images on both sides and bound with lead-ring bindings. Many of them were severely corroded when they were first discovered, although it has been possible to open them with care. The codex showing what may be the face of Christ is not thought to have been opened yet. Some codices show signs of having been buried – although this could simply be the detritus resulting from lying in a cave for hundreds of years. Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, the lead codices appear to consist of stylised pictures, rather than text, with a relatively small amount of script that appears to be in a Phoenician language, although the exact dialect is yet to be identified. At the time these codices were created, the Holy Land was populated by different sects, including Essenes, Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, Dositheans and Nazoreans. One lucky owner: Hassan Saida with some of the artefacts that he says he inherited There was no common script and considerable intermingling of language and writing systems between groups. Which means it could take years of detailed scholarship to accurately interpret the codices. Many of the books are sealed on all sides with metal rings, suggesting they were not intended to be opened. This could be because they contained holy words which should never be read. For example, the early Jews fiercely protected the sacred name of God, which was only ever uttered by The High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem at Yom Kippur. The original pronunciation has been lost, but has been transcribed into Roman letters as YHWH – known as the Tetragrammaton – and is usually translated either as Yahweh or Jehovah. A sealed book containing sacred information was mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelations. If genuine, it seems clear that these books were, in fact, created by an early Messianic Jewish sect, perhaps closely allied to the early Christian church and that these images represent Christ himself. One plate has been interpreted as a schematic map of Christian Jerusalem showing the Roman crosses outside the city walls. At the top can be seen a ladder-type shape. This is thought to be a balustrade mentioned in a biblical description of the Temple in Jerusalem. Below that are three groups of brickwork, to represent the walls of the city. A fruiting palm tree suggests the House of David and there are three or four shapes that appear to be horizontal lines intersected by short vertical lines from below. These are the T-shaped crosses believed to have been used in biblical times (the familiar crucifix shape is said to date from the 4th Century). The star shapes in a long line represent the House of Jesse – and then the pattern is repeated. This interpretation of the books as proto-Christian artefacts is supported by Margaret Barker, former president of the Society for Old Testament Study and one of Britain’s leading experts on early Christianity. The fact that a figure is portrayed would appear to rule out these codices being connected to mainstream Judaism of the time, where portrayal of lifelike figures was strictly forbidden because it was considered idolatry. If genuine, it seems clear that these books were, in fact, created by an early Messianic Jewish sect, perhaps closely allied to the early Christian church and that these images represent Christ himself. However another theory, put forward by Robert Feather – an authority on The Dead Sea Scrolls and author of The Mystery Of The Copper Scroll Of Qumran – is that these books are connected to the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132-136AD, the third major rebellion by the Jews of Judea Province and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars. The revolt established an independent state of Israel over parts of Judea for two years before the Roman army finally crushed it, with the result that all Jews, including the early Christians, were barred from Jerusalem. Wonder: The cave in Jordan where the metal books were discovered The followers of Simon Bar Kokhba, the commander of the revolt, acclaimed him as a Messiah, a heroic figure who could restore Israel. Although Jewish Christians hailed Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba, they were barred from Jerusalem along with the rest of the Jews. The war and its aftermath helped differentiate Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism. The spiritual leader of the revolt was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who laid the foundations for a mystical form of Judaism known today as Kabbalah, which is followed by Madonna, Britney Spears and others. Yochai hid in a cave for 13 years and wrote a secret commentary on the Bible, the Zohar, which evolved into the teaching of Kabbalah. Feather is convinced that some of the text on the codices carry the name of Rabbi Bar Yochai. Feather says that all known codices prior to around 400AD were made of parchment and that cast lead is unknown. They were clearly designed to exist for ever and never to be opened. The use of metal as a writing material at this time is well documented – however the text was always inscribed, not cast. The books are currently in the possession of Hassan Saida, in Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli, which is at the foot of Mount Tabor, 18 miles west of the Sea of Galilee. Saida owns and operates a haulage business consisting of at least nine large flatbed lorries. He is regarded in his village as a wealthy man. His grandfather settled there more than 50 years ago and his mother and four brothers still live there. Saida, who is in his mid-30s and married with five or six children, claims he inherited the booklets from his grandfather. However, The Mail on Sunday has learned of claims that they first came to light five years ago when his Bedouin business partner met a villager in Jordan who said he had some ancient artefacts to sell. The business partner was apparently shown two very small metal books. He brought them back over the border to Israel and Saida became entranced by them, coming to believe they had magical properties and that it was his fate to collect as many as he could. The arid, mountainous area where they were found is both militarily sensitive and agriculturally poor. The local people have for generations supplemented their income by hoarding and selling archeological artefacts found in caves. More of the booklets were clandestinely smuggled across the border by drivers working for Saida – the smaller ones were typically worn openly as charms hanging from chains around the drivers’ necks, the larger concealed behind car and lorry dashboards. In order to finance the purchase of booklets from the Jordanians who had initially discovered them, Saida allegedly went into partnership with a number of other people – including his lawyer from Haifa, Israel. Saida’s motives are complex. He constantly studies the booklets, but does not take particularly good care of them, opening some and coating them in olive oil in order to ‘preserve’ them. Masterpiece: Later versions of Christ, including Leonardo Da Vinci's interpretation in his fresco The Last Supper, give Jesus similar characteristics The artefacts have been seen by multi-millionaire collectors of antiquities in both Israel and Europe – and Saida has been offered tens of millions of pounds for just a few of them, but has declined to sell any. When he first obtained the booklets, he had no idea what they were or even if they were genuine. He contacted Sotheby’s in London in 2007 in an attempt to find an expert opinion, but the famous auction house declined to handle them because their provenance was not known. Soon afterwards, the British author and journalist Nick Fielding was approached by a Palestinian woman who was concerned that the booklets would be sold on the black market. Fielding was asked to approach the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and other places. Fielding travelled to Israel and obtained a letter from the Israeli Antiquities Authority saying it had no objection to their being taken abroad for analysis. It appears the IAA believed the booklets were forgeries on the basis that nothing like them had been discovered before. None of the museums wanted to get involved, again because of concerns over provenance. Fielding was then asked to approach experts to find out what they were and if they were genuine. David Feather, who is a metallurgist as well as an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, recommended submitting the samples for metal analysis at Oxford University. The work was carried out by Dr Peter Northover, head of the Materials Science-based Archaeology Group and a world expert on the analysis of ancient metal materials. The samples were then sent to the Swiss National Materials Laboratory at Dubendorf, Switzerland. The results show they were consistent with ancient (Roman) period lead production and that the metal was smelted from ore that originated in the Mediterranean. Dr Northover also said that corrosion on the books was unlikely to be modern. Meanwhile, the politics surrounding the provenance of the books is intensifying. Most professional scholars are cautious pending further research and point to the ongoing forgery trial in Israel over the ancient limestone ossuary purporting to have housed the bones of James, brother of Jesus. The Israeli archeological establishment has sought to defuse problems of provenance by casting doubt on the authenticity of the codices, but Jordan says it will ‘exert all efforts at every level’ to get the relics repatriated. The debate over whether these booklets are genuine and, if so, whether they represent the first known artefacts of the early Christian church or the first stirrings of mystical Kabbalah will undoubtedly rage for years to come. The director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, has few doubts. He believes they may indeed have been made by followers of Jesus in the few decades immediately following his crucifixion. ‘They will really match, and perhaps be more significant than, the Dead Sea Scrolls,’ he says. ‘The initial information is very encouraging and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery – maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.’ If he is right, then we really may be gazing at the face of Jesus Christ. Sea of Galilee

Daniel's 70th week, the seven-year tribulation (or the Time of Jacob's Trouble) began in 66 A.D. when General Vespasian of Rome, under orders from Nero Caesar, invaded Judea. After the death of Nero, Vespasian went on to become emperor of Rome in 68 A.D. and his son, Titus, took over the Judean campaign against the rebelling Jews. Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. and then went through the rest of Judea killing all Jewish rebels until finally ariving Masada in 73 A.D. where he destroyed the last rebel stronghold. Titus then returned to Rome and became emperor himself on June 24th, 79 A.D. upon the death of his father Vespasian. The destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish temple was, of course, all prdicted by both the Prophet Daniel and by Jesus Christ. Here are just a couple of Jesus Christ's prophecies concerning these things: "Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, [Jesus] said, "These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down."" -Luke 21:5-6 ""But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."" -Luke 21:20-24 Sea of Galilee, Kibbutz Ginosar Sea of Galilee, View on Kibbutz Ginosar Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee (Sea of Christ), 23 kinds of fish, 13 miles long, Jordon river flows in North end from Mt. Hermon. 150’ deep, 600’ below sea level. Harod Antipus ruled Galilee during Christ’s ministry and he hated Jesus. Tiberius in the background facing SW. Tiberius built 20AD when Christ was 25. It was made capital of Galilee by Harod Antipus. Tiberius, during Christ’s time was inhabited by Helenistic Jews (Jews inclined towards foreigners (Gentiles) and their pagen rituals. Tiberius was built on Mt. Arbel and was deemed unclean by Jews because it was built on top of tombs. This is why Jesus did not settle here at first. Sea of Galilee. Sea of Galilee from the Mount of Beatitudes Sea of Galilee. Wild wheat by the Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee. Boatman demonstrates fishing technique on the Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee. Fishing net hits the water of the Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee. Swimming in the Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee. Pilgrims paddle in the Sea of Galilee Sea of Galilee. Fertile land by the Sea of Galilee Mount Sinai. Pilgrims and tourists ascending Mount Sinai Sea of Galilee. Sower's Cove or the Bay of the Parables   Found: The bathtub that could have belonged to a priest who condemned JESUS to death and a town where Christ rested after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 Archaeologists from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, have found a bathtub and ritual pool in a ruined mansion on Jerusalem's Mount Zion They believe the mansion, built close to the walls of the Second Temple erected by King Herod, could have been home to one of Jesus' archenemies The scientists think the ruins survived the destruction of the city as they were deliberately buried beneath rubble

Archaeologists from the University of Reading believe they have found the lost Biblical town of Dalmanutha, believed to be a prosperous fishing hub

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient bathtub in a first-century mansion that could have belonged to one of the priests who was responsible for Jesus' death, while another expedition has found a town where Jesus is believed to have stayed following the feeding of the 5,000 miracle.

The mansion, which houses the bathtub and is situated on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, would have belonged to wealthy owners, signified by its size and features such as intricate carvings, a luxurious oven and the bathtub, which is similar to others found in King Herod's palace and a priest's residence.

Archaeologists believe the mansion, which was built close to the walls of the Second Temple erected by King Herod, could have been home to one of Jesus' archenemies - a man belonging to the Sadducees class, which was typically wealthy, powerful and allied with the Romans.

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient bathtub (pictured) in a first-century mansion. The bathtub is the biggest clue as to who lived in the house as two similar tubs were unearthed in Herod's palaces at Jericho and Masada , while a third was located at a priestly residence also in Jerusalem

The building is an example of an early Roman period mansion, which historians hope will yield plenty of domestic details abut the ruling classes of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. James Tabor, who specialises in early Christian history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, told NBC News: 'We might be digging in the home of one of Jesus' archenemies.' Shimon Gibson, who is leading the expedition, believes the house could have belonged to the high priest Caiaphas or Annas but they were both members of the ruling priest class.

These ruins could be a mansion that was inhabited by one of the priests that condemned Jesus to death, according to archaeologists. The ruins are located on Jerusalem's Mount Zion close to the walls of the old city

The bathtub is the biggest clue as to who lived in the mansion as two similar tubs were unearthed in Herod's palaces at Jericho and Masada, while a third was located at a priest's house also in Jerusalem.

It is buried in a vaulted chamber adjacent to a large underground ritual cleansing pool called a mikveh and is only the fourth bathroom of its kind to be found in Israel.

Dr Gibson said: 'It is only a stone's throw away, and I wouldn't hesitate to say that the people who made that bathroom probably were the same ones who made this one. It's almost identical, not only in the way it's made, but also in the finishing touches, like the edge of the bath itself.'

The location of the mansion is a strong indication of a high-status resident.

The bathtub was found in a vaulted chamber adjacent to a large underground ritual cleansing pool called a mikveh (pictured). Little is known about the daily lives of priests at the time and archaeologists hope to build up a better picture of their lives from the newly-discovered mansion

Dr Tabor said: 'Whoever lived in this house would have been a neighbor and would have been able to pop into the palace.

'If this turns out to be the priestly residence of a wealthy first century Jewish family, it immediately connects not just to the elite of Jerusalem – the aristocrats, the rich and famous of that day – but to Jesus himself.

'These are the families who had Jesus arrested and crucified, so for us to know more about them and their domestic life and the level of wealth that they enjoyed, would really fill in for us some key history.'

The team hopes to learn more about the household activities that might have been undertaken by priests at the time, as there are very few historical reports about their activities outside the holy temples in Jerusalem.

Dr Tabor also believes that the details of the first-century Jewish ruling class could provide fresh insights into New Testament history.

The mansion would have belonged to wealthy owners, signified by its size and features such as intricate carvings and a luxurious oven (pictured). Archaeologists believe the mansion could have been home to one of Jesus' archenemies - a man belonging to the Sadducees class

He said: 'Jesus, in fact, criticises the wealth of this class. He talks about their clothing and their long robes and their finery and in a sense, pokes fun at it. So for us to get closer to understanding that, to supplement the text, could be really fascinating.'

The archaeologists also found plenty of animal bones and cooking pots inside a cistern some 10 metres deep, which could have become a makeshift hiding place for Jewish residents during the Roman siege that led to the City's destruction in 70AD.

A Roman historian said over 2,000 bodies were found underground in similar cisterns and many of the occupants had died of starvation.

Dr Gibson said: 'We still need to look at this material very carefully and be absolutely certain of our conclusions, but it might be that these are the remnants of a kitchen in use by Jews hiding from the Romans -- their last resort was to go into these cisterns.

The archaeologists also found plenty of animal bones and cooking pots inside a cistern some 10 metres deep, which could have become a makeshift hiding place for Jewish residents during the Roman siege that led to the City's destruction in 70AD

'It was a common practice, but this conclusion is theoretical. It makes for a very good story and it does look that way, but we’ve got to be certain.'

Archaeologists believe this particular residence survived because of its location after the city was ruined.

Mount Zion was left unoccupied until around 400 AD and the beginning of the Byzantine period, when people simply built on top of older walls.

Around 200 years later Dr Gibson believes what remained of the house was covered with landfill material from the construction of a church called Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos near the site.

He said: 'The area got submerged. The early Byzantine reconstruction of these two-story Early Roman houses then got buried under rubble and soil fills. Then they established buildings above it. That's why we found an unusually well-preserved set of stratigraphic levels.'

The Ginosar Valley in Israel. Archaeologists found pottery remains, tesserae and architectural fragments indicating a town flourished in the area from the second or first century BC. They think Jesus could have rested after performing the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 at an ancient town near this site

A separate group of Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient town on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee, which they believe was where Jesus rested after performing the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, where he is said to have fed a large group of people with less than seven loaves of bread and two fish.

The town is 2,000-years-old, situated in Israel's Ginosar Valley and is thought to be 'Dalmanutha', which is described in the Gospel of Mark as the location of Jesus' next journey after the miracle, Live Science reported.

The town is only mentioned once in the Gospel of Mark, which states that after feeding 5,000 people Jesus sailed to Dalmanutha, where he was questioned by the Pharisees and aked to provide a sign from heaven.

Roman column fragments lying on the side of a road in the modern-day town of Migdal are thought to be part of a newfound ancient town. Locals use artefacts as garden ornaments in the modern town

Ken Dark, of the University of Reading, who led the archaeological team, believes the town was prosperous in ancient times due to the vessel glasses and amphora discovered.

The team said a 2,000-year-old boat found in 1986 on a shoreline nearby, adds to the picture of a thriving town.

Writing in the journal Palestine Exploration Quarterly, he said: 'stone anchors along with the access to beaches suitable for landing boats and of course, the first-century boat…all imply an involvement with fishing'.

The team thinks the town survived for a number of centuries as hundreds of pieces of pottery from as early as the first century BC as well as later pieces from the Byzantine Empire were scattered between the modern town of Migdal and the coast.

They also found cubes called tesserae associated with Jewish practices in the early Roman period, suggesting a Jewish community lived there, as well as basalt ashlar blocks used as garden ornaments in the modern town, which they believe were found in the local area and probably the newly-discovered town.

Key finds include Corinthian column pieces and a pagan altar made of light grey limestone.

Constantine's church was built as two connected churches over the two different holy sites, including a great basilica (the Martyrium visited by Egeria in the 380s), an enclosed colonnaded atrium (the Triportico) with the traditional site of Golgotha in one corner, and arotunda, called the Anastasis ("Resurrection"), which contained the remains of a rock-cut room that Helena and Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus. The rockface at the west end of the building was cut away, although it is unclear how much remained in Constantine's time, as archaeological investigation has revealed that the temple of Aphrodite reached far into the current rotunda area,^[10] and the temple enclosure would therefore have reached even further to the west.

According to tradition, Constantine arranged for the rockface to be removed from around the tomb, without harming it, in order to isolate the tomb; in the centre of the rotunda is a small building called the Kouvouklion (Kουβούκλιον; Modern Greek for small compartment) or Aedicule^[11](from Latin: aediculum, small building), which supposedly encloses this tomb, although it is not currently possible to verify the claim, as the remains are completely enveloped by a marble sheath. The discovery of the kokhim tombs just beyond the west end of the Church, and more recent archaeological investigation of the rotunda floor, suggest that a narrow spur of at least ten yards length would have had to jut out from the rock face if the contents of the Aedicule were once inside it. The dome of the rotunda was completed by the end of the 4th century.

Each year, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the consecration of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) on September 13^[12] (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian calendar, September 13 currently falls on September 26 of the modern Gregorian calendar).

 

 

 

Dead sea scrolls go up for sale as family sells off fragments it secretly stashed in a Swiss safety deposit box

• Palestinian family who originally sold them admits if kept fragments in a Swiss safe deposit box
• Scraps are postage-stamp-sized, and some are blank

Nearly 70 years after the discovery of the world's oldest biblical manuscripts, the Palestinian family who originally sold them to scholars and institutions is has begun selling fragments it kept hidden in  a Swiss safe deposit box.

Most of these scraps are barely postage-stamp-sized, and some are blank.

But in the last few years, evangelical Christian collectors and institutions have spent millions buying parts of the archaeological treasure.

A Rabbi studies one of the 'Scrolls from the Dead Sea' on display in Glasgow. now the family that discovered them is set to sell more 'fragments' to collectors

WHAT ARE THE SCROLLS?

The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of more than 10,000 manuscript fragments representing 900 separate texts, including the oldest biblical texts ever found.

They were discovered in caves in the Judean desert alongside the Dead Sea.

Most of the scrolls are animal skin parchment, a few are papyrus, and one is made of copper.

At least 90 percent are written in Hebrew, while the rest are in Aramaic and Greek.

They include 200 manuscripts representing every book in the Hebrew Bible except Esther, most in small fragments.

They predate the era of Jesus by about 80 years.

They also include previously unknown works, thought to have been composed by a community or communities that believed the End of Days was imminent.

This angers Israel's government antiquities authority, which holds most of the scrolls, claims that every last scrap should be recognized as Israeli cultural property, and threatens to seize any more pieces that hit the market.

'I told Kando many years ago, as far as I'm concerned, he can die with those scrolls,' said Amir Ganor, head of the authority's anti-looting squad, speaking of William Kando, who maintains his family's Dead Sea Scrolls collection.

'The scrolls' only address is the State of Israel.'

Kando says his family offered its remaining fragments to the antiquities authority and other Israeli institutions, but they could not afford them.

 

'If anyone is interested, we are ready to sell,' Kando told The Associated Press, sitting in the Jerusalem antiquities shop he inherited from his late father.

'These are the most important things in the world.'

The world of Holy Land antiquities is rife with theft, deception, and geopolitics, and the Dead Sea Scrolls are no exception.

Their discovery in 1947, in caves by the Dead Sea east of Jerusalem, was one of the greatest archaeological events of the 20th century. Scholarly debate over the scrolls' meaning continues to stir high-profile controversy, while the Jordanian and Palestinian governments have lodged their own claims of ownership.

But few know of the recent gold rush for fragments - or Israel's intelligence-gathering efforts to track their sale.

Written mostly on animal skin parchment about 2,000 years ago, the manuscripts are the earliest copies of the Hebrew Bible ever found, and the oldest written evidence of the roots of Judaism and Christianity in the Holy Land.

They are also significant because they include the Hebrew originals of non-canonical writings that had only survived in ancient translations, and because they prove that multiple versions of Old Testament writings circulated before canonization around 100 AD.

While some of the scrolls are nearly identical to the traditional Hebrew text of the Old Testament, many contain significant variations. 

The scrolls were well preserved in their dark, arid caves, but over the centuries most fell apart into fragments of various sizes.

A section of the Dead Sea Scrolls: now smaller, blank fragments are set to be sold to collectors

Israel regards the scrolls a national treasure and keeps its share of them in a secure, climate-controlled, government-operated lab on the Israel Museum campus in Jerusalem. Pnina Shor, who oversees the antiquities authority's scroll collection, said the trove of fragments is so numerous - at least 10,000 - that staff haven't finished counting them all.

Israel has been criticized for limiting scholarly access, but is partnering with Google to upload images of scrolls online.

How most of the Dead Sea Scrolls ended up in Israeli hands is a tale that begins with a Bedouin shepherd who cast a stone inside a dark cave and heard the sound of something breaking. He found clay jars, some with rolled-up scrolls inside.

After a return visit, he and his Bedouin companions had found a total of seven scrolls.

They sold three of them through an antiquities dealer to a Hebrew University professor, and four to William Kando's father, a Christian cobbler in Bethlehem who in turn sold them to the archbishop of the Assyrian Orthodox church.

On the eve of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the archbishop smuggled the scrolls to the U.S. and advertised them in a Wall Street Journal classifieds ad.

Yigael Yadin, Israeli war hero and later one of Israel's pre-eminent archaeologists, bought them through a front man.

For the next decade, archaeologists dug up thousands more scroll fragments in Dead Sea area caves and began to assemble them, like a jigsaw puzzle, in the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum in east Jerusalem, then ruled by Jordan.

Bedouins also found fragments and sold them to Kando, who in turn sold most of them to the museum.

Other fragments went to Jordanian and French state collections, and universities in Chicago, Montreal and Heidelberg, Germany.

In the 1967 Mideast war, Israel seized the Rockefeller collection, and sent soldiers to Bethlehem in the West Bank, 8 kilometers (5 miles) south of Jerusalem, where Kando was rumored to hold another important scroll.

After a brief imprisonment, Kando revealed the parchment scroll in a shoe box under a floor tile in his bedroom, and sold it to Israeli authorities for $125,000, according to a written account by Yadin.

It is called the Temple Scroll, because it partly describes the construction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. At 8.15 meters (26.7 feet) long, it is the longest ever found.

In 2001 scholars announced that the scrolls, dating between 250 B.C. and A.D. 70, have nearly all been published, 54 years after their discovery by archaeologists in caves on the western shore of the Dead Sea - but now more fragments have emerged

But Kando held much more than he surrendered to Israel.

William, his son, said his father had fragments tucked away which he eventually transferred to Switzerland in the mid-1960s.

In 1993, just as scholars finally began publishing research of Israeli-held scrolls, and the world was abuzz with Dead Sea Scroll fever, Kando died, bequeathing his secret collection of fragments to his sons.

It was the perfect time to sell.

Norwegian businessman Martin Schoyen, a 73-year-old collector of biblical manuscripts, purchased his first Dead Sea Scroll fragment a year later, said Torleif Elgvin, a scholar with the Schoyen Collection.

He eventually purchased a total of 115 fragments, many of them from Kando and some from an American scholar and a British scholar who kept them as souvenirs in the early days after their discovery.

A few years ago, Schoyen suffered financial losses in a business investment and could not afford to continue collecting scrolls, said Elgvin.

William Kando then took his business to the U.S., startling manuscript collectors who didn't know there was any scroll material still available for purchase.

'These were the hurdles I had to pass with collectors in America,' said Lee Biondi, a California dealer who sold pieces on behalf of Kando.

'The impossibility of it; people saying, `you can't get a Dead Sea Scrolls fragment. That's impossible.''

In 2009, Asuza Pacific University, an evangelical Christian college near Los Angeles, bought five fragments, along with biblical antiquities, for $2,478,500, according to Azusa's 2010 tax form.

The college said it had purchased the fragments through Biondi and a private collection. Kando told The Associated Press he was the source of all the fragments.

Between 2009 and 2011, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, negotiated with Kando for the acquisition of eight fragments kept in the Kando family's safe deposit box at UBS Bank in Zurich, according to a book published last year by the seminary president's son, Armour Patterson.

The Seminary did not disclose the sum of the acquisition, but one family said it donated $1 million for the exhibit, and another family said it donated $500,000 for the purchase of a Leviticus fragment, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Qumran in the West Bank, Middle East, where parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls were found

That scroll fragment includes passages from chapters 18 and 20 concerning the laws of sexual morality, and carried a special price tag because of the text's significance, said Bruce McCoy of the Seminary.

'The particular passage is a timeless truth from God's word to the global culture today," said McCoy.
In 2009 and 2010, the Green family, evangelical Christians in Oklahoma City and owners of the Hobby Lobby arts and crafts retailer, bought 12 fragments for its private collection, the world's largest of rare biblical manuscripts.

Jerry Pattengale, who oversees the scrolls in the Green Collection, would not say who sold them and for how much, and Kando denied they came from his collection.

Representatives of the collections in Norway and the U.S. say they will publish their research on the writings in a few years.

Pattengale would only provide a basic inventory of the Green Collection's fragments: it includes material from Genesis through Leviticus; Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, Micah, Daniel, and Nehemiah; a Psalm and a mysterious extra-biblical Hebrew document known as an Instruction text.

'They are really small pieces, but they are important because you may have two or three lines that may have not been found anywhere else.

'And suddenly it adds a lot to the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls,' Pattengale said.

'There is at least one rather amazing discovery in one of them.'

Two examples of the pottery jars that held some of the Dead Sea Scrolls documents found at Qumran

He said a non-disclosure agreement bars him from revealing the finding until it is published.

He estimated it would be released in about 18 months and published by Brill, the leading publishing house of Dead Sea Scroll scholarship.

For decades, scholarly access to the scrolls was tightly controlled by a small circle of researchers. Access is freer now, but digital sharing of the artifacts among Israel, Schoyen, and U.S. institutions is limited.

Governments have also jockeyed for ownership of the scrolls, a dispute rooted in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the redrawn borders that changed control of the desert region where the scrolls were found.

Palestinian officials claim rights to the material because it was found in today's West Bank, Jordan claims rights because the material was discovered when it ruled the territory, and both have unsuccessfully petitioned to seize scrolls when they were displayed abroad in Israeli government-sponsored exhibitions.

Israel considers the scrolls its national patrimony, and says all fragments should be in its large repository for best preservation and research.

Ganor of the antiquities authority said under Israeli law, all scrolls located abroad were removed illegally.

'Whoever buys these takes a risk that the State of Israel would sue," Ganor said.'

But Kando said his father transferred fragments to Switzerland in the mid-1960s - before Israel passed its 1978 law preventing the unauthorized removal of antiquities from the country.

Biondi, the California dealer, said if it weren't for private collections able to pay large sums, fragments would still be languishing in the Kandos' safe-deposit box, and important historical discoveries would not see the light of day.

'It was kind of like a rescue operation, to get this stuff out of the vault,' said Biondi.
Kando would not say how many more fragments are in his family's collection.

But since 1995, Israeli officials have been keeping tabs on his attempted sales - and the correspondence of dealers and middlemen - in an effort to determine what Dead Sea Scrolls his family has left. They estimate that the Kandos are still holding onto around 20 fragments.

The Associated Press was given partial access to the contents of a classified Israeli dossier - a thick red binder which includes photocopies of foreign passports, photos of tiny scroll scraps, letters written by Kando to prospective buyers, and testimony from informants on attempted sales.

One such testimony alleges that in 2007, a well-known professor in Jerusalem offered to facilitate the sale of a Deuteronomy fragment to a U.S. dealer for $250,000.

A document dated May 17, 2012, marked 'confidential,' listed eleven scroll fragments and their sizes, only a few centimeters large.

WHERE ARE THE SCROLLS?

Dead Sea Scrolls are currently located in the following collections:

- Israel Antiquities Authority (More than 10,000 scroll fragments)
- Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum (Seven of the most complete Dead Sea Scrolls)
- France National Library (377 scroll fragments representing 18 scrolls)
- Amman Museum (fragments of 20 scrolls, including the Copper Scroll)
- Heidelberg University in Germany (four phylactery pieces)
- Franciscan private museum in Jerusalem's Old City (two fragments)
- Terre Sainte Bible Museum in Paris (two scroll fragments)
- University of Chicago (one fragment)
- McGill University in Montreal (a few fragments)
- St. Mark's Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in Teaneck, N.J. (fragments of three scrolls)
- Schoyen Collection in Oslo, Norway (115 fragments)
- Asuza Pacific University in Asuza, Ca. (5 fragments)
- Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Tx. (3 fragments)
- Green Collection in Oklahoma City, Ok. (12 fragments)
- Private collection of Spaer family, Jerusalem (2 fragments)
- Private collection of Kando family in Bethlehem, West Bank (the family does not reveal how many fragments remain in its collection, but estimates range between 20 and 40.)

Israel is keen to obtain one scrap in particular from Kando: a well-preserved Genesis fragment shaped like a butterfly and about the size of a cereal box - 'The largest fragment in private hands,' Kando claims.

About 5 years ago, Israeli diamond billionaire and antiquities collector Shlomo Moussaieff offered to buy the piece and donate it to the country. Ganor, of Israel's antiquities authority, said Kando's price of around $1.2 million was too high.

The fragment includes passages that tell the story of Joseph, and is written in Paleo-Hebrew, an ancient Israelite script pre-dating the Hebrew block characters adopted by Jews around the 5th century B.C. and still in use today.

The Kando family agreed to display the Genesis fragment, for the first time, in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's exhibit.

After the exhibit closed in January, Kando said the fragment returned to his family's Swiss safe deposit box, still mounted in the glass frame in which it was displayed.

Kando is said to be asking for about $40 million for the Genesis piece, according to Pattengale of the Green Collection. Kando would not disclose financial details of his dealings, and said his family is currently not participating in any new negotiations for additional scroll sales.

Scholars consider Kando's fragments to be authentic because his father was directly involved in the sale of scrolls when they were first discovered.

Scholars examining the Dead Sea Scroll fragments

New scroll fragments from the Dead Sea region have surfaced in recent years from different sources.
In 2005, Israeli police raided the home of Hanan Eshel, an Israeli scrolls scholar, after he facilitated the purchase of scroll fragments from a Bedouin man who said he discovered them in a cave a year before.

The fragments were unrelated to the Dead Sea Scrolls trove, but were found in the same region and dated to the 2nd century A.D.

Eshel had already given the fragments to Israeli authorities before the raid, and had said it was never his intention to purchase them for himself, but Israel's antiquities authority said he had acted illegally. Eshel died in 2010.

In mid-2010, a team of 30 Israeli undercover agents and officers staged a stakeout at Jerusalem's Hyatt Hotel, posing as interested buyers, and seized a papyrus fragment dating to the 2nd century A.D. The Palestinian dealers offering the papyrus for sale were arrested.

It is likely more ancient manuscripts, and even Dead Sea Scrolls, remain hidden in caves next to the

Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, waiting to be discovered.

Many cave entrances are hidden by vegetation and rock falls, or their approaches are eroded, said Lenny Wolfe, a Jerusalem manuscripts dealer.

'I would not at all be surprised if more material were to be found,' Wolfe said.

According to the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus selected this town as the center of his public ministry in Galilee after he left the small mountainous hamlet of Nazareth (Matthew 1:12-17). Capernaum has no obvious advantages over any other city in the area, so he probably chose it because it was the home of his first disciples, Simon (Peter) and Andrew. The Gospel of John suggests that Jesus' ministry was centered in a village called Cana.

Barefoot, dressed in white robes, Carl James Joseph, a Catholic pilgrim from Detroit, Michigan, has been living without money and depending on the generosity of others for the past 20 years. Joseph calls himself Jacob but is better known by many as ‘the Jesus guy’, a moniker he has earned as a result of his Jesus-like appearance and active choice to live like he believes the Bible figure did more than 2,000 years ago. He has visited about 20 countries in the world as a missionary, and has become a well-known figure in the old city of Jerusalem, where he explores the life and path of Jesus Christ. Holy way: James Joseph , a Catholic pilgrim originally from Detroit, Michigan, rest in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the Old City of Jerusalem, where he has become a well-known figure as a result of his resemblance to Jesus 'The Jesus guy' does not carry objects or money, and walks around the streets of the Old City barefoot, wearing white robes and carrying a woollen blanket and Bible. He spends most of his day praying at the Church of the Holy Seprulchre and talks to people who he meets on his way. Mr Joseph explains that as he loves Jesus, he wants to live the same lifestyle as the Bible describes; in total poverty with the simplest of clothes, no possessions and sharing the gospel. The long-haired evangelist earned the nickname 'the Jesus guy' while crossing United States in the 90s where local and international media began asking questions about the soft-spoken man in the robe, walking barefoot across western Pennsylvania. Carrying his cross: James Joseph carries a cross at the Via Dolorosa ninth station at the Old City of Jerusalem as he explores the life and path of Jesus Christ Copy cat: James Joseph has earned himself the nickname 'The Jesus Guy', and is living the life of the man the Bible calls 'The Son of God' in bare feet and robes, seen here as he sleeps near the ancient Jewish cemetery in Mount of Olives with the background of the Old City of Jerusalem Cross to bare: James Joseph proclaims that as he loves Jesus, he wants to live the same lifestyle Jesus did; in total poverty with the simplest of clothes, no possessions and sharing the gospel Simple life: The pilgrim from Detroit, Michigan has spent more than two decades living the life he believes Jesus led over 2,000 years ago Mr Joseph featured in Time Magazine and the Washington Post and a few years later became the subject of a documentary - unsurprisingly named 'The Jesus Guy'. Mr Joseph was born in Detroit and grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he was invited to join the local Catholic Church aged 12, he eventually set out on his long journey in 1991, wearing just his robes and carrying a Bible and a rosary. 'Like Jesus, it s through experience,' he told the Toledo Blade in a 2007 interview. 'It s one thing to learn by reading; it s another to learn by experience.' 'I've always been open to whatever God may want. I never really set out with the intention of living this particular lifestyle, he said. But once I recognized it was what God was calling me to do, I went along with it.' Bringing the message: Like his Messiah, 'The Jesus Guy' lives solely on the charity and goodwill of others, walking barefoot clad in a robe and blanket Famous face: 'The Jesus Guy' poses for a picture with some tourists in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the Old City of Jerusalem Holy man: Mr Joseph has been preaching the word of the Bible since 1991 - and only puts sandals on when he visits hospital to spread the word of Jesus Long walk: 'The Jesus guy' has walked across around 20 countries and through most of the states of America barefoot, clad in a robe

Ancient text points to First Century structure where the Messiah may have lived Clues found in 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth by a bishop Text says how Jesus' home was between two tombs and below church Dr Ken Dark says house located beneath Sisters of Nazareth Convent There is evidence of a Byzantine church here with two tombs in its crypt One of the doorways has survived, as has part of the original chalk floor Hewn into a hillside, this is the humble stone and mortar house where a scholar believes Jesus was raised. It has been dated to the early 1st century by a British archaeologist who says an ancient text points to the building as being the home in Nazareth where Mary and Joseph brought up the son of God. Professor Ken Dark says De Locis Sanctis, written in 670 by Irish monk Adomnan, described the house as located between two tombs and below a church. +8 A British archaeologist has identified what he believes could have been the house (exterior pictured) where Jesus was raised. Dr Ken Dark said that the humble first century home in Nazareth, Northern Israel, could have been where Mary and Joseph brought up the son of God +8 In the first century, two tombs were built beside what is believed to be Jesus' home. The forecourt of the tomb seen here passes through the abandoned home. Dr Ken Dark describes it as having been cut out of a limestone hillside and having a series of rooms and a stairway The text was based on a pilgrimage to Nazareth made by the Frankish bishop Arculf and tells of a church ‘where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in his infancy’. In the Byzantine era, and again in the 12th century at the time of the Crusades, the ruins of the building were incorporated into churches – suggesting it was of great significance and needed to be protected, the Reading University archaeologist argues. The house was cut into a limestone hillside and has a series of rooms and a stairway. One of the original doorways has survived, as has part of the original chalk floor. +8 The key piece of evidence linking the site to Jesus is pilgrim text called 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn of Iona (pictured) It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth and talks about a church 'where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in his infancy' +8 The Sisters of Nazareth Convent matches this because there is evidence of a large Byzantine church with a spring and two tombs in its crypt, Dr Dark writes.The house he believes was Jesus' boyhood home stands in between the two tombs which also matches with Adomnàn's account Writing in the journal Biblical Archaeological Review, Dr Dark says that while he has no proof, there is ‘no good reason’ to believe it was not Jesus’s home. He has been researching the ruins, in what is now northern Israel, since 2006. The house was first identified as significant in the 1880s after the chance discovery of by nuns an ancient cistern. An excavation was ordered. Jesuit priest Henri Senes carried out more work in 1936. Since 2006, Dr Dark’s team has discovered broken cooking pots, a spindle whorl and limestone artefacts. The limestone items suggest a Jewish family lived there as Jews believed that limestone could not be impure – and Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth when the angel Gabriel revealed that Mary would give birth to the son of God, a baby to be named Jesus. HOW WAS 'JESUS' HOME' FOUND? The house is thought to be located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth. The key piece of evidence linking the site to Jesus is pilgrim text called 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn of Iona.  It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth made by the Frankish bishop Arculf and talks about a church 'where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in his infancy.' He writes: 'The other stood nearby and was built near a vault that also contained a spring and the remains of two tombs. 'Between these two tombs was the house in which Jesus was raised. From this is derived the more recent name for the church that Adomnàn described'. The Sisters of Nazareth Convent matches this because there is evidence of a large Byzantine church with a spring and two tombs in its crypt, Dr Dark writes. +8 The house is thought to be located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth +8 The last attempt to identify the house where Jesus grew up was in 2009 when archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority found another 1st century home they believed had been occupied by a Jewish family. Pictured an Israeli Antiquities Authority worker clears debris during the 2009 excavation Dr Dark, a specialist in first century and Christian archaeology, argues that the house he believes was Jesus’s boyhood home matches Adomnan’s account. It is located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent, which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT 'JESUS' HOME'? Artefacts at the site included broken cooking pots, a spindle whorl and limestone artifacts. The limestone items suggest a Jewish family lived there as Jews believed that limestone could not be impure. The house has been cut out of a limestone hillside and having a series of rooms and a stairway. One of the original doorways has survived as has part of the original chalk floor. The house is located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth. Subsequent generations after the first century took great care to look after the site. The house was decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine period, suggesting that they were of special importance. The Adomnan text describes two churches in Nazareth, one of which was the Church of Annunciation. Dr Dark writes: ‘The other stood nearby and was built near a vault that also contained a spring and the remains of two tombs.’ The Sisters of Nazareth Convent matches this because there is evidence of a large Byzantine church with a spring and two tombs in its crypt, he says. Dr Dark writes: ‘Great efforts had been made to encompass the remains of this building. Both the tombs and the house were decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine period, suggesting that they were of special importance, and possibly venerated. ‘Was this the house where Jesus grew up? It is impossible to say on archaeological grounds. 'On the other hand, there is no good archaeological reason why such an identification should be discounted.’ In 2009 archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority found another 1st century home nearby they believed had been occupied by a Jewish family. However they were able to say only that Jesus may have lived near the site. +8 Along with the home, a number of water sources have also been found at Nazareth. They would have been accessed with Jesus was alive. This image shows a famous source known today as 'Mary's Spring' +8 The house is located near the Basilica of the Annunciation (pictured). Overall the design was typical of early Roman settlements in the Galilee

A new film celebrates the rich history and religious significance of the city of Jerusalem The makers of 'Jerusalem' were granted special rights to film using low-altitude planes to capture stunning hi-def images of one of the oldest cities in the world The film, being distributed by National Geographic Entertainment, also explores the religious significance of the city through the eyes of three young girls - one Christian, one Jewish and one Muslim The iconic city of Jerusalem, so rich in history, religion and science, is celebrated in a new movie shot using high definition cameras by filmmakers granted special access rights to capture unprecedented views of the Holy Land. The result is a visually stunning piece of film-making which offers viewers breathtaking aerial perspectives of the Old City and other famous landmarks. Jerusalem is like nowhere else on earth, not only is it one of the oldest cities in the world, but it is considered holy by three major world religions - Christians, Jews and Muslims.   The sun rises over the Mount of Olives, framed between the Al-Khanqah al-Salahiyya Mosque on the left and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the right Tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims congregate at the Western Wall during Passover for the Birkat Kohanim, meaning 'Priestly Blessing'     Muslim women from nearby villages on their way to noon prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan A breathtaking aerial view of Masada, once a mountain fortress built by order of Herod the Great during the 1st Century BC A Greek Orthodox youth choir from the town of Beit Sahour sings in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built on the traditional site where Jesus was born 'We were thrilled with the opportunity to provide audiences with the story of the Old City on this grand scale, and offer unique perspectives, aerials and access to this part of the world in a way you could never get in any other format.' said Daniel Ferguson, who produced the movie along with Taran Davies and George Duffield. 'Jerusalem' presents the story from several perspectives and features three teenage girls, one from each faith - Farah Ammouri, a Muslim, Nadia Tadros, from a Greek Orthodox and Catholic family, and Revital Zacharie, a Jew – who each took Ferguson on a (separate) one-day tour of Jerusalem, which he filmed. 'Our goal was to look at the roots of the universal attachment to Jerusalem: Jewish, Christian and Muslim,’ explained Ferguson. For those of the Jewish faith, Jerusalem represents their homeland. Every synagogue in the world faces Jerusalem, and three times a day, Jews pray towards the temples that once stood here above 'the Kotel' or Western Wall. They believe prayers pass through the Kotel to God. For Christians, Jerusalem is the place where Jesus was arrested and sentenced to death nearby in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Via Dolorosa, or ‘Way of Sorrows,’ is said to be the path Jesus took on his way to crucifixion. Video: Watch the trailer for the breathtaking film 'Jerusalem' A group of Armenian Apostolic priests descend the stairs to the Chapel of St Helena in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Tradition holds that Helena, mother to the Emperor Constantine, discovered remnants of the True Cross here in the 4th century AD during the construction of the original church     The Dome of the Rock, one of the old and holiest sites in Islam: The iconic city of Jerusalem is celebrated in a new movie shot using high definition cameras by filmmakers granted special access to capture unprecedented views of the Holy Land For Muslims, Jerusalem is the city of the prophets. Muslims believe that Mohammed was taken on a miraculous journey from Mecca to Jerusalem where he ascended to Heaven on a ladder of light, which they associate with the 'Dome of the Rock.' From the Damascus Gate and the Dome of the Rock, to the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the girls each reveal the Holy City from their own perspective. ‘What was really amazing was that they would bring me to some of the same places in the city and tell me entirely different things,' said Feriguson. 'Revital would point out Jewish history, but when I asked her if she knew about the Christian or Muslim attachment to the same places, she didn’t. The same was true of the other girls.' ‘We hope the juxtaposition of these different religions and cultures - all with profound spiritual and historical connections to the city - will reveal how much Jews, Christians and Muslims have in common and inspire all of us to better understand each other.' A computer-generated recreation of Jerusalem in the 1st century AD, featuring the latest archaeological consensus on what the 2nd Temple might have looked like A rare view of the rock at the center of the Dome of the Rock. Muslims refer to it as 'as-Sakrah', the rock from where they believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. In Jewish tradition, it known as 'the Foundation Stone,' where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son and where the Temples stood. Many historians believe the biblical Jebusites worshiped here nearly 5000 years ago     Throughout its checkered history, Jerusalem has been fought over more than any other place in history; conquered and destroyed, rebuilt and reinvented and remains to this day both a thriving modern city and a living museum to over 5,000 years of history With thousands of archaeological sites, Jerusalem is one of the most excavated cities on the planet, with so much more waiting to be discovered. The film features renowned archaeologist and religious studies professor Dr. Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who explains the many layers that chronicle this important crossroads of civilizations. 'It's a living city, and it's a city that's been inhabited continuously for thousands of years,' Magness told NBC News. 'Unless, God forbid, the city is ever completely abandoned, we'll never get a complete picture.' In the film, Dr. Magness leads a group of students through an ancient water tunnel beneath the biblical-era city of Jerusalem, which conveyed water from the Gihon Spring outside the city walls to the residents of the city in the event of a siege by an invading army. She also gives audiences a tour of excavations around the Western Wall, marveling at one of the greatest feats of engineering in the ancient world. Built into a canyon in the Judean Desert, the Mar Saba Monastery was founded by the Greek Orthodox monk, Saint Sabas, in the 5th century AC, and is still inhabited today     Jerusalem is like nowhere else on earth, not only is it one of the oldest cities in the world, but it is also considered holy by three major world religions - Christians, Jews and Muslims The sensitivity to all those traditions is one of the biggest challenges facing archaeologists as they try to piece together the story of Jerusalem's past, going back to the Jebusites (also known as the Canaanites) who settled there 5,000 years ago. 'Understanding ancient Jerusalem is like trying to put together a giant puzzle, where we're missing most of the pieces and we don't know what the original picture looked like,' Magness said in the film. 'Everything that we dig up out of the ground is a new piece of the puzzle.' One of the most thrilling scenes in 'Jerusalem' starts out with Magness showing a tour group around the monumental walls of the Temple Mount, and ends up morphing into a computer-generated reconstruction of the Second Temple. Other scenes compare present-day settings with how the same location looked in historical photographs or virtual views of the ancient past. The film, which is narrated by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, will premiere in giant-screen, IMAX and digital 3-D cinemas in the USA and worldwide beginning September 20, 2013. Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, meaning 'The Furthest Mosque' is one of the three most important sites in Sunni Islam. At its center is the Dome of the Rock. The entire area takes up one sixth of the walled city of Jerusalem Jerusalem's iconic Citadel (now the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem) is a fortress with archaeological findings spanning over 2,000 years The Western Wall plaza illuminated at night, left, musicians lead a Bar Mitzvah boy towards the Western Wall, right Throughout its checkered history it has been fought over more than any other place in history; conquered and destroyed, rebuilt and reinvented and remains to this day both a thriving modern city and a living museum to over 5,000 years of history. ‘Jerusalem,’ which is being distributed by National Geographic Entertainment, explores this ancient, enigmatic place on a grand scale. It has been shot especially in 3D for IMAX and Giant Screen cinemas which immerses audiences in a spectacular cinematic journey. Audiences get a rare glimpse of the storied city, as well as exclusive access to iconic holy sites including the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee and the mountain fortress of Masada. Although a strict no-fly zone has existed over the region for many years, the filmmakers were granted special permission to capture aerial images using low-altitude planes. An aerial view of the Jordan River, which lies about 30km East of Jerusalem and flows from north of the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, left, and an aerial view of the  Church of the Beatitudes by the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, the traditional site where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount as told in the New Testament, right The Wailing Wall today. The base of the section seen today is from the period of the second temple, which was destroyed in the year 70AD. It's upper parts were added during later periods. The hight of the Western Wall is 18 meters, and it consists of 24 stone layers, when the lower layers are made up of larger stones. A significant part of the Western Wall is still buried beneath the surface (19 layers of stones). It is possible that the lower layers are from the period of the first temple. The height of the buried part of the Western Wall is almost as high as the visible part.   Jews congregate at this site to bewail the loss of their Temple. The Temple in Jerusalem was the most sacred building in Judaism. Herod the Great built vast retaining walls around Mount Moriah, expanding the small, quasi-natural plateau on which the First and Second Temples stood into the wide open spaces of the Temple Mount seen today. Western part of the wailing Wall. The Kotel, is a retaining wall in Jerusalem that dates from the time of the Jewish Second Temple (515 BCE - 70 CE). It is sometimes referred to by gentiles as the Wailing Wall, the term that may be considered derogatory, as it implies the image of Jews wailing and moaning over the hardships they have endured throughout Jewish history. The Western Wall is part of the larger religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem called (the Temple Mount) to Jews and some Christians Although a strict no-fly zone has existed over the region for many years, the filmmakers were granted special permission to capture aerial images using low-altitude planes Dawn over the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem's Old City, left. A Tokes (which literally means 'blaster') blows into a shofar in the Congliano Synagogue in Jerusalem to announce the Jewish New Year, right The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the holiest Christian site in Jerusalem and Israel. The Church contains the Chapel of Golgotha and three Stations of the Cross, as well as the place of Jesus Christ's burial and resurrection. Today's Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands in the place where a temple dedicated to Aphrodite used to stand. This temple was built during the Roman Empire's time on the location where Christ was crucified and buried, so it will be forgotten. Ironically, the building of the temple actually preserved the exact burial site's location. Slab of stone, where they believed, the body of Jesus was cleaned prior to burial.The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by Constantine I the Great during the fourth century, after he became christian, and turned Christianity to the official religion of the Roman empire. In the year 326, Constantine I sent his mother, Helena, to seek the Crucifixion location in Jerusalem. Helena found the place and also found the remains of the cross itself. In that same place, 7 years later, Constantine I founded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the year 333. Jesus' birthplace Since it was distinguished above every other city as the birth-place of "Him whose goings forth have been of old" (Micah 5:2), it was here that the birth of Christ was expected. Accordingly, the gospels (Luke 2:4 and Matthew 2:1) report that Jesus, whom they proclaim as the Messiah, was born in Bethlehem, although he grew up in Nazareth. Matthew reports that Herod had "all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under" killed when Jesus was born (Matt. 2:16, 18; Jer. 31:15). Jesus' family escaped this fate for him, by fleeing to Egypt and then returning after Herod had died, shortly thereafter. The Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony or the Basilica of the Agony, is located on Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before the night of his arrest. In the 1160s the nave of the Church of the Nativity was redecorated with mosaics showing the councils of the church. On the south wall, an inscription in Greek reads: "the present work was finished by Ephraim the monk, painter and mosaicist, in the reign of the great emperor Comnenus and in the time of the great king of Jerusalem, Amalric." Interestingly, the emperor's name was placed first, in recognition of his role as overlord and protector of the Crusaders at the time. However, in 1187, Saladin captured Bethlehem from the Crusaders, and the Latin clerics were forced to leave. Saladin agreed to the return of two Latin priests and two deacons in 1192. Bethlehem was briefly returned to Crusader control by treaty between 1229 and 1244. In 1250, with the coming to power of Baibars, tolerance of Christianity declined, clergy left the town, and in 1263 the walls of the town were demolished. The Latin clergy returned to the town over the right to administer and maintain the Basilica. The Grotto of the Nativity contains the manger that is believed to be the place where the baby Jesus was laid after he was born. The grotto is encased in white marble. The site of the birth is marked by a 14-point star on a marble stone. The High Altar standing above the Grotto. The site has been venerated by Christians since St Justin Martyr identified it as the site of Jesus' birth in the second century The Palestinian Authority was given control over Bethlehem in December 1995, when Israeli troops pulled out. Bethlehem is mentioned in Genesis as Ephratah, the burial place of Rachel - a place of pilgrimage for both Jews and Muslims. It is also referred to in the Old Testament as the home of King David's family.

http://