Jean-Baptiste Humbert op went to Gaza during the week of February 14 to visit the Mukheitim complex and the Hilarion monastery site, two sites in Gaza that have been excavated and restored under the scientific authority of the École Biblique (EBAF).

“I have just spent a short week in Gaza. On the spot, one is always surprised by the dynamic and effervescent life there. Archaeology has not been forgotten, it is making its way. The restoration work on the sites, carried out for ten years by René Elter under the authority of the EBAF and in partnership with Première Urgence Internationale (PUI), has borne good fruit.

The entrance of the complex of Mukheitim.

The complex of Mukheitim in Jabaliya is now sustainably preserved by an elegant shelter and safely accessible for all. One can contemplate, from aerial walkways, the church, the diaconicon, the large baptistery and the 400 m2 of restored mosaics. The inauguration successfully attracted many curious, but the success was also that of all Gazans who worked in all trades. Success again for our project’s objective: giving back the Palestinian heritage to the Palestinians. We see that the objective has been reached.

During the visit to the large construction site of Hilarion Monastery, we have seen the great progress made over the last year, despite the obstacles of the pandemic. The monastery is now seen in its beautiful coherence, with gravel beds that reconstitute the different spaces. The vault that is reconstituted of the great crypt is a feat all to the glory of the young Gazan crafts women and men who have acquired skills in the techniques of antiquity.

But Gaza never stops building and shows by this what remains of its freedom. A huge construction site has been opened to build high-rise apartments. The construction machines discovered under an orange grove, unfortunately razed, a cemetery from the Roman period with beautiful tombs built in stone. The teams, trained by EBAF and PUI, who restore the Hilarion site is naturally fully engaged to carry out the rescue. The meticulous excavation with brush and spoon contrasts singularly in the middle of excavators, bulldozers and a noria of big trucks evacuating the sand. About thirty graves have been uncovered.

The cemetery of the Roman era surrounded by construction sites and bulldozers.

Jean-Baptiste Humbert and the excavation team on the site of the Roman cemetery.

Jerusalem, Fr. Jean-Baptiste Humbert, op, February 28, 2022

The activities are funded by the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and The International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH)

In the Occupied Palestinian territory, Premiere Urgence Internationale and Ecole Biblique seek to continue developing relationship with Palestinian cultural institutions, urging them to engage and act on their heritage and archaeological sites, to enhance their steadfastness, protect their identity and basic human rights.

Through strengthening and reframing youth’s relationships with cultural heritage, future societal outcomes are reimagined, more vibrant than ever, reflecting the resilience youth in the occupied Palestinian territory are well known for.

As a continuation of the preservation, mediation, and training program initiated in 2018 by Première Urgence Internationale on the archaeological sites of Tell Umm el-‘Amr (the monastery of Saint-Hilarion) and Mukheitim (the Byzantine church) in Jabalyah, a new campaign was carried out between March 2020 and February 2021.

Supported by the British Council (DMCS) and the Aliph Foundation, the work was scientifically monitored by the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem and supervised by the services of the Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism of Palestine. Although initially planned to last 12 months, the intervention was reduced because it was interrupted between August and November 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The program included a variety of activities on the remains of the site. It permitted efforts to tackle the restoration, the anastylosis of ancient masonry, stone cutting, the removal before restoration of a mosaic pavement, the archaeological excavation and processing of the data which resulted from it, etc.  The team is made up of about thirty people (women and men). As in previous years, recent graduate students from Gaza’s universities (architecture and archaeology) were included. In order to reinforce the students’ skills, each activity integrated a training component. For example, within the framework of the archaeological activity, leaders provided training in the reading of stratigraphy, sorting, identification, and the drawing of ceramic objects.

The preservation and restoration work follows the work already done on the crypt between 2019 and 2020. The activity also involved, at different levels of intervention, the chapel, the North Baptistery, the churches, the hotel and the South installations of the monastery.

More sensitive projects were carried out on the mosaic pavements of the site. One of them involved the removal before restoration of the pavement of the choir of the primitive church. This pavement had partly collapsed in the cenotaph of Saint Hilarion between 2009 and 2010.

This complex undertaking required special treatment and specific implementation, such as the installation of a mobile walkway to allow the team to remove the various fragments without having direct contact with the pavement. The fragments collected, after being numbered and listed, were placed in a 25 m2 sand-filled box, installed for the occasion in the site’s reception building. There, the pavement will be restored after the different pieces of this giant “puzzle” have been assembled. In the autumn, once restored, the pavement will return to its original position, in the choir of the first church.

At Jabalyah, the excavation of the remains annexed to those of the ecclesiastical complex completes the “archaeological panorama” of the site. Enhanced and consolidated, they will be presented to the public.

The reception of visitors has been reinforced on both sites by the training of two guides accompanying groups and the installation of two interpretation rooms. Finally, the actions carried out are regularly disseminated on the net via “Intiqal 2030”, created to facilitate exchange on the heritage of Palestine and in the region.

Gaza, René Elter, February, 12, 2021.

Fig. 2: Archaeological investigations with consolidation of the chapel’s pavement. In the recess, the floor on which the first floor of the chapel was laid is visible: a mosaic carpet.

Fig. 9: The team sorting the furniture from the boreholes.

Fig. 11: Making mortar joints.

Fig. 12: Block cut and laying.

Fig. 15: View from the south of the Jabalyah clearings.