1500 year old baptismal font discovered in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity

Bethlehem, July 2, 2019

Photo: Fox News Photo: Fox News     

In the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Our Lord, a great discovery has been made, but one which also has experts puzzled.

As Pravoslavie.ru reports, citing a Fox News report, on June 24, 2019 during restoration work on the church, archaeologists uncovered a baptismal font which is at least 1500 years old.

The font was discovered in the south wing of the church, concealed by a larger vessel which could have been filled with water.

Ziad al-Bandak, the head of the Palestinian presidential committee which is overseeing the church restoration described the discovered Byzantine font, estimated to date from between 501 and 600 A.D. as being simply “magnificent”.

Externally, the font is a round bowl carved with intricate reliefs. The vessel inside which the font was located was made in the form of an octagonal cylinder of the same stone as the columns of the church itself. The side of the fountain is inscribed in Greek.

It is currently a mystery why the font was concealed and put in this place between the octagonal stones, as researchers were unable to find any historical record that one such artifact existed, let alone hidden in such a way.

Perhaps further research will give answers.

7/2/2019

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