Monday, October 15, 2018

Restored synagogue at Umm el-Kanatir dedicated

ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: EIN KESHATOT, THE GOLAN HEIGHTS’ HIDDEN ARCHAEOLOGICAL GEM OPENS TO PUBLIC. The restored ancient basalt synagogue was dedicated Monday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance (Zachary Keyser, Jerusalem Post).
The synagogue, with its ornately carved basalt Torah ark, was built in the 1st century but extensively renovated some 500 years later. The building, which collapsed in the catastrophic earthquake of 749 CE, measured 18 meters long by 13 meters wide, and is calculated to have been 12 meters high. That impressive size made it one of the biggest of the 30 ancient synagogues discovered in the Golan Heights.
Past posts on the ancient synagogue at Umm el-Kanatir (or Ein Keshatot or Keshatot Rechavam) and its restoration are here and links.

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