Opening Jerusalem's Nea Church to the public?

PETITIONED BY EMEK SHAVEH: Decades after discovery, Jerusalem’s Byzantine masterpiece may open to public (Ilan Ben Zion, Al-Monitor). The article reports that the Nea Church was founded by the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. It was excavated in the 1970s by Nahman Avigad, but most of its subterranean vaults still remain closed to the public.

But Daniel Shukrun, secretary of the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter, told Al-Monitor that the Nea Church vaults are presently unsafe for the general public. In late 2017, the company conducted a major clean-up operation inside the subterranean chambers to clear out years of accumulated bat droppings and refuse, but the area remains unsuitable for tourists, he said.

“The sanitation problems were so severe down there that we couldn’t even understand what we were up against,” he added. Nonetheless, Shukrun said that in light of Emek Shaveh’s petition, the company has gotten the ball rolling on evaluating a development plan for the Nea Church ruins.

But he says that it would cost a lot of money.

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