THE TOURISM MINISTRY PRESENTS: VIRTUAL TOURS OF ISRAEL

It is now possible to tour sites in Israel via the Tourism Ministry website: video, panoramic views and tens of photos now online for visitors from all over the world

Visitors from all over the world can now enjoy virtual tours of Israel via a Multimedia experience that includes 100 videos, 130 panoramic views and tens of photographs on the Ministry of Tourism website. The new Tourism Ministry initiative can be accessed directly at www.goisrael.com/vt or via the home page www.goisrael.com

Ten virtual, ten-day tours are available online, including: general interest itineraries, Jewish interest, Christian interest, Culture and History, Nature, Food and Wine, Family, Archeology, Active interest, and Mobility challenged tours. Sites that can be "visited" include, among others, Caesarea, the Western Wall, the Old City of Jerusalem, Mitzpe Ramon, Gamla, Ben Gurion's hut, Hayarkon Park, Katzrin, Mount Bental and Mount Hermon. General and detailed information on each site is also available.

The Tourism Ministry's website, www.goisrael.com, which is available in 11 languages, is the main website offering the potential tourist access to updated and comprehensive information on accommodation, attractions, events, special tour packages and more. In addition, the site serves as an additional arm in the ministry's marketing campaign, improving Israel's image and positioning Israel as an attractive and unique travel destination.

Tourism Ministry Director-General Shaul Tzemach: "The Tourism Ministry is currently expanding its marketing activities around the world, including via the internet, in order to maintain the growth trend in incoming tourism to Israel as it was in 2008. Increasing our marketing activities online affords marketing accessibility to many potential target markets, promotes incoming tourism and improves Israel's overall image."

In 2008, 3.5 million visitors accessed the Ministry of Tourism website, a 100% increase on 2007 when 1.7 million visitors accessed the site. Over 830,000 were from the USA, 227,000 from Italy, 200,000 from France and about 150,000 from Russia. 18% of all the Tourism Ministry website visitors are Israelis.

(Courtesy of Israel Ministry of Tourism)

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A Byzantine Bathhouse was Uncovered Close to Kibbutz Gevim

A bathhouse that dates to the Byzantine period was exposed in an archaeological excavation undertaken by the Israel Antiquities Authority near Kibbut Gevim (at the site of Horvat Lasan) and underwritten by the Israel Railways, prior to laying a railroad track from Ashkelon to Netivot.

According to archaeologist Gregory Serai, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The bathhouse, which covers an area of 20 x 20 m, was apparently destroyed in a cave-in and was later used as a rubbish dump that was filled with household refuse. It was ascertained in the excavation that the furnace (hypocaust) was dug into the natural soil and its ceiling was built of a cement-like material that was lined with ceramic tiles. The ceiling was supported by means of one meter high colonnades built of mudbricks. The bathers entered the changing room (apodyterium) and passed from there into a room with cold water (frigidarium) where there were probably stepped tubs. From there they continued into the room with warm water (tepidarium) and on to the room with hot water (caldarium – comparable to today’s sauna). The floor of the caldarium was paved with marble flagstones, some of which were as big 1 x 1 m. Evidence of the ceiling’s destruction is attested to by the manner in which the hypocaust columns were toppled in different directions”.

Following its destruction, the structure served as a source of building material as evidenced by the stone walls that were robbed. Secondary use of the stones was noted in the center area of the excavation. A number of residential buildings were discovered in this part of the site and they contained storage jars that were still in situ.

The village’s buildings and bathhouse join the finds that were revealed in a previous excavation that was conducted on the other side of the road. In the opinion of Gregory Serai, “We are dealing with a village whose economy was based on the production of wine and the manufacture of pottery vessels. The site was situated on a road that linked Beer Sheva with Gaza and probably began as a road station in the Roman period.

(Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
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March 11, 2009

Byzantine period church exposed in Moshav Nes-Harim

Beautiful mosaics and a dedicatory inscription were uncovered in a church that dates to the Byzantine period.

A church that dates to the Byzantine period which is paved with breathtakingly beautiful mosaics and a dedicatory inscription was exposed in an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting near Moshav Nes-Harim, 5 kilometers east of Bet Shemesh (at the site of Horvat A-Diri), in the wake of plans to enlarge the moshav.

According to archaeologist Daniel Ein Mor, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The site was surrounded by a small forest of oak trees and is covered with farming terraces that were cultivated by the residents of Nes-Harim. Prior to the excavation we discerned unusually large quantities of pottery sherds from the Byzantine period and thousands of mosaic tesserae that were scattered across the surface level."

The excavation seems to have revealed the very center of the site, which extends across an area of approximately 15 dunams, along the slope of a spur that descends toward Nahal Dolev.

During the first season of excavation (November 2008) the church's narthex (the broad entrance at the front of the church’s nave) was exposed in which there was a carpet of polychrome mosaics that was adorned with geometric patterns of intertwined rhomboids separated by flower bud motifs. Unfortunately, at the conclusion of the excavation this mosaic was defaced and almost completely destroyed by unknown vandals.

During that excavation season a complex wine press was partly exposed that consists of at least two upper treading floors and elongated, well-plastered arched cells below them that were probably meant to facilitate the preliminary fermentation there of the must. Part of the main work surface, which was paved with large coarse tesserae, was exposed at the foot of these cells. A complex wine press of this kind is indicative of a wine making industry at the site; this find is in keeping with the presence here of a church and is consistent with our knowledge about Byzantine monasteries in the region during this period (6th-7th centuries CE).

Other parts of the church were revealed in the current excavation season. The area of the apse was almost entirely exposed, as were other parts of the southern aisle.

Two rooms that are adjacent to the northern and southern sides of the church were also uncovered. In the southern room a mosaic pavement was exposed that is decorated with intertwined patterns of different size concentric circles. The mosaic also includes a dedicatory inscription written in ancient Greek that was deciphered by Dr. Leah Di Signi of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:

O Lord God of saint Theodorus, protect Antonius and Theodosia the illustres (illustres - a title used to distinguish high nobility in the Byzantine period) [- - - ] Theophylactus and John the priest (or priests). [Remember o Lord] Mary and John who have offe[red - - ] in the 6th indiction. Lord, have pity of Stephen.

Various phases that were used after the church was abandoned in the later part of the Byzantine period were discerned elsewhere in the structure. The mosaic floor was completely destroyed in different places and the area inside the church was put to secondary use. Industrial installations that are ascribed to the same phase were found which attest to the functional change the building underwent during the end of the Byzantine period-beginning of the Early Islamic period (7th century CE).

According to Daniel Ein Mor, "We know of other Byzantine churches and sites that are believed to be Byzantine monasteries, which are located in the surrounding region. The excavation at Nes-Harim supplements our knowledge about the nature of the Christian-Byzantine settlement in the rural areas between the main cities in this part of the country during the Byzantine period, among them Bet Guvrin, Emmaus and Jerusalem."