Now, though, a small part of the mosaic is on display at the Israel National Maritime Museum in Haifa (until April 2018). The section on show is covered with fish, sea monsters and ships. It is incredible and is undoubtedly worth the trip. The big question now is why we have to journey to Haifa to see it, and not its home city of Lod in central Israel?Mr. Gilad is impatient about this matter:
Three institutions are partners in preserving and displaying the “Lod Mosaic”: the IAA is the professional body in charge; the Leon Levy Foundation and Shelby White are supposed to fund the IAA’s activities; and Lod City Hall is the host. The three provided answers to questions from Haaretz last week, all basically saying, “What’s the rush? Patience!” Sure, because it has only been 21 years and the mosaic has yet to be fully shown in Israel.This is a long, detailed article about this beautiful ancient mosaic. It's worth reading in full - soon, before it goes behind the subscription wall.
The Lod Mosaic was on an international display tour for some years, and PaleoJudaica kept regular track of its peregrinations. Start here and follow the links. The same trail of links will lead you to information on a second ancient mosaic discovered recently in Lod.