Gaza Cristiana
Reporting of Federici Studies Center
Gaza, the oldest monastery in the Holy Land will be saved
Thanks to international funds, A two-year plan to restore St. Hilarion Monastery and Jabaliya Church has been initiated, monuments from the Byzantine era. With positive repercussions for Palestinian civil society.
The Palestinian enclave of Gaza hides a priceless cultural treasure, especially Christian, too little known and protected, often threatened by time, climatic events, sand, negligence, uncontrolled urbanization and recurring conflicts (three in the last decade alone). It took little for one of the most important early Christian testimonies of the Holy Land to disappear. A Nuseirat, about ten kilometers south of the city of Gaza, near the coastal dunes, the oldest monastery in the Holy Land is located, dedicated to Saint Hilarion and dating back to the 4th century.
Excavations in the monastery began in the 1990s and since 2012 it is included in the World Monuments Fund's list of the most threatened sites in the world. Also the Byzantine church of Jabaliya, discovered in 1996 a few kilometers north of the city of Gaza, risks the same fate. Resting place for pilgrims, it is known for a rich mosaic, damaged during the war 2012. (…)