A historic altar rediscovered in the church of holy sepulchre, Jerusalem

Historians describe it as a great sensation. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the largest known medieval altar has been discovered. For decades, it was considered lost.

The 11-foot-wide altar was created to mark the reconsecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on 15 July 1149, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Crusaders’ capture of Jerusalem. As one of the most important Christian sanctuaries, the church underwent extensive renovations, acquiring a Romanesque style, including a new main altar.

"In 1808, there was a major fire in the Romanesque part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," said Ilya Berkovich, a historian from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), who, along with archaeologist Amit Reem from the Israel Antiquities Authority, discovered the relic.

During renovation, a multi-ton stone slab was moved away from the wall and placed in a rear corridor of the publicly accessible part of the basilica. On its reverse side, scientists discovered rich geometric ornaments, allowing them to identify the slab as the front section of the 12th-century medieval altar.

Historians call the discovery a sensation. There are several reasons why. Firstly, the relic had remained unrecognised in the temple for a very long time despite being intensely studied by specialists and visited by thousands of pilgrims and tourists. Visitors even graffitied the back of the slab.

Secondly, the discovered geometric decorations show that the altar must have been adorned using a technique employed by artists from the Cosmati school, active in Rome in the 12th and 13th centuries. Only a few known examples of relics from their school outside Italy exist.

Berkovich emphasized that by sending one of the Cosmati masters to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Pope thus paid homage to the holiest church of Christianity. Therefore, the newly rediscovered altar would be evidence of previously unknown direct links between Rome and Jerusalem, which is significant for European art history.