Crosses on the wall at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Holy Land of Jerusalem. Until now, religious scholars believe that medieval pilgrims traveling to this sacred site carved images of crosses on the walls. But new research has shown that only a handful of people, be they masons or artisans, carved these crosses on behalf of pilgrims, who may have kept the dust from carved as a sacred keepsake. Some crosses date from the 14th or 15th centuries, hundreds of years after the Crusades in the Holy Land (1096-1291), suggesting that post-medieval pilgrims may have made the trees. Cross. “During our research, we scrutinized, analyzed every millimeter inside the crosses – their depth, their width, even the hands of the people who carved them,” said the project leader. Project Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority said. The team found that it was one person, or several, responsible for making these crosses, not the hundreds and thousands of pilgrims who visited the church. Re’em got the idea for research while visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The church was built in the 4th century, when Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, traveled to Jerusalem, and according to legend, helped discover the place where Jesus was crucified, burial and resurrection. Constantine had a basilica built there, and it was later called the Church of the Tomb. Together with colleagues Moshe Caine and Doron Altaratz, professor and senior lecturer, in the Department of Photographic Communication at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, the team used three photographic techniques to record the shape of the crosses: photogrammetry, reflectance-conversion imaging (RTI) and gigapixel imaging. For the optical measurement, the team took between 50 and 500 images of each subject, with each image at a different angle, and then used software to create a digital 3D image based on the triangulation of all The pictures. Meanwhile, with gigapixel photography, which is similar to zooming in from the whole world to a close-up street view on Google Maps, the team took multiple photos of the carved surfaces. All of these techniques help Re’em investigate the similarities and differences, including the chisel technique, of each carved cross. Furthermore, when the researchers took pictures of the crosses, they noticed inscriptions of names and dates engraved along them. “We found that the crosses were carved around the inscriptions, which means that the crosses date to or slightly later than the inscriptions,” Re’em said. After reading about the research being done in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently, William Purkis, a reader of medieval history at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, contacted Re’em. Purkis said he shares the same thoughts with Israeli researchers on the findings that these crosses were made by only a few experts. It is possible that the pilgrims paid a stone mason or an artist to carve a cross for them in the church, and then saved the dust as a sacred keepsake, Purkis said. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims were known to carry small lead vessels filled with souvenirs of the Holy Land, such as water from the Jordan River. Two of these medieval vases are in museums – the Cleveland Museum of Art and the British Museum.

1. Yerebatan Cistern – Where is the “Forgotten Underwater Palace” located? Icon Brother Icon France Icon Turkey The correct answer is answer C: Yerebatan Cistern (Basilica Cistern) is actually an ancient water tank left underwater in Turkey. This underground cistern is, in Greek, known as the “Basilica”. Archaeologists today call it “The Forgotten Underwater Palace”. 2. What year was Yerebatan Cistern built? Icon 531 Icon 532 Icon 533 The correct answer is answer B: Yerebatan Cistern was built in 532 under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. This ancient emperor built a cistern to store water for the Great Hall. In 1453, the cistern system was forgotten, when the capital Constantinople fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1545, the French archaeologist Petrus Gyllius discovered the “underwater palace”. 3. In which city was the “Palace” Yerebatan Cistern built? Icon Istanbul Icon Besiktas Icon Ankara The correct answer is answer A: Yerebatan Cistern was built in the Turkish city of Istanbul. In this city, scientists found hundreds of water tanks, elaborately designed and built, of which the most famous is the Basilica Cistern. Not only an ordinary reservoir, Basilica Cistern is also known as the “Swallowed Palace”, hidden deep underground, which attracts a lot of tourists when visiting. 4. How many meters long is Basilica Cistern? Icon 140m Icon 143m Icon 145m The correct answer is answer B: “Palace” Basilica Cistern is the largest water tank in Istanbul with a length of 143 m, a width of 70 m, containing about 80,000 m3. 5. What kind of stone is Basilica Cistern built from? Icon granite Icon Magma Icon Jade The correct answer is answer C: This building is supported by 336 marble columns, creating beautiful domes like the famous synagogue in Europe. Some of the stone pillars are carved with the head of Medusa upside down. Currently, the Basilica Cistern is a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul. To help visitors admire the marble columns, as well as the devil’s head, in 1990, the city government installed a wooden platform system on a part of the water area to make a walking area inside the tank. . 6. Turkey’s Istanbul is Europe’s largest city? Icon It’s correct Icon Wrong The correct answer is answer A: According to World Atlas, with a population of more than 14 million people, an area of ​​more than 5.3 thousand square kilometers, Istanbul is the largest city in Europe. It is also one of the largest cities in the world. 7. What distinctive geographical feature does this city have? Icon Located on the islands Icon Located on 2 continents Icon Located on 7 hills The correct answer is answer B: Not only is the largest city in Europe, but Istanbul is also known as the only city in the world spanning 2 different continents including Asia and Europe. 8. Istanbul is also known as the city…? Icon Golden City Icon Diamond City Icon Cat City The correct answer is answer C: The forgotten city Istanbul is also known as the “cat city”. This city currently has more than 1 million cats living, making it the city with the most cats in the world. Result Please work harder! point