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Mahesh

28/07/24 11:41 AM IST

Gaza’s Tell Umm Amer in the World Heritage Site List

In News
  • The World Heritage Committee (WHC) recently decided to include the Palestinian site of Tell Umm Amer in both the UNESCO World Heritage Site List and the Lost of World Heritage in Danger during its 46th session in New Delhi.
About Monastery
  • Situated on the coastal dunes of the Nuseirat Municipality, just 10 km south of Gaza city, the ancient Christian monastery was founded in the fourth century by Hilarion the Great (291-371 CE), considered by some to be the father of Palestinian monasticism.
  • Born in Tabatha, close to where his monastery would eventually come up, Hilarion became a monk at the age of 15.
  • As his fame grew, and people began coming to him for miracles, his small hermitage went on to become a thriving monastery, which attracted followers from all over, many of whom would choose Hilarion’s mendicant lifestyle.
  • The present-day archaeological remains of the site span more than four centuries, from the time of Hilarion to the Umayyad period.
  • The ruins comprise “five successive churches, bath and sanctuary complexes, geometric mosaics, and an expansive crypt” making the monastery “one of the largest in the Middle East”, according to The World Monuments Fund, an independent organisation which facilitates the preservation of “the world’s most treasured places”.
  • The UNICEF listing of the site refers to Tell Umm Amer as “the first monastic community in the Holy Land”, and “a hub of religious, cultural, and economic interchange”.
  • The monastery was likely abandoned after a seventh century earthquake, only to be uncovered by local archaeologists in 1999.
Source- Indian Express

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