Crusader Remains on Mt. Zion

When the Crusaders built their church on the ruins of the Byzantine Hagia Sion, they incorporated into their building the Apostolic Church (the Judeo-Christian synagogue). Formerly, the Apostolic Church had stood outside and next to the Byzantine churches on Mt. Zion.

The above plan shows the excavated archaeological remains of the Crusader church and the rest of the structure that is presumed but not found. In the 032northwest corner of the building, bottom left, eight pillar and half-pillar foundations and one pillar pedestal were found in excavations. A portion of the western exterior wall including its southern corner, lower right, was discovered during the author’s recent investigations. A part of the foundation of this wall appears in the photo below; it incorporates a Byzantine or Roman column, the flat, round stone near the center in the third course from the top.