Discovering Dominus Flevit: the first visit for 15 girls from a school on the Mount of Olives

On Tuesday, June 9 , the first visit to Dominus Flevit by a class of girls from the At-tur girls schools, on the Mount of Olives, took place. 15 eleven-year-old girls, accompanied by two teachers, visited this place together with Osama Hamdan, supervisor of activities for the Mosaic Centre and for the Association pro Terra Sancta.

The girls were very attentive to the explanation, and they watched fascinated the work of recovering the ancient mosaics.

“I didn’t know this place,” said one of them. I had never entered through this gate, and I didn’t think there was such a beautiful place full of history in here.” In fact, the girls were explained the history and importance of the place where the church of Dominus Flevit stands today: the tombs that have been found here, the construction of the first Byzantine monastery and then the modern church of Barluzzi, the history of mosaics… And then they met the young people who are now engaged in the restoration of these masterpieces of Byzantine art.

They are the six local young people who have been working for some months for the conservation and restoration of the mosaics, followed by the expert trainers of the Mosaic Centre of Jericho.

“The visit to this school was the first of a long series – explains Entisar, local coordinator of activities with schools for this project. “And after the visit, the girls will continue the activity with mosaics in their school: in fact, we are organizing mosaic courses in the schools of the neighborhoods near Dominus Flevit, and the girls are very happy to be able to continue and live this experience firsthand“.

The restoration and training project that is taking place at Dominus Flevit is a follow-up to the one carried out in past years at the Basilica of Gethsemane. The young people who had thus begun their formation in Gethsemane are thus becoming more and more specialized thanks to the advanced course they are following at Dominus Flevit.

In addition to the fruitful collaboration between the Association pro Terra Sancta and the Mosaic Centre of Jericho, the project is made possible by the contribution of the PSMP program of the Consulate General of Italy in Jerusalem and the Municipality of Bronzolo.