1,400-year-old church discovered in the Negev follows in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia

A 1,400-year-old church featuring colorful mosaic floors has been discovered in the Nitzana National Park in the Negev, in a discovery announced on March 16, 2026. (Nitzana Delegation/Ben-Gurion University)

#Chuech

In the Negev desert, near the border with Egypt, archaeologists from Ben-Gurion University announced the discovery of a Byzantine church approximately 1,400 years old

The temple, found in Nitzana National Park (also known as Nessana), impresses with its floors decorated with beautiful, colorful mosaics, full of geometric patterns and floral motifs.

This is the sixth church identified at the site, which served as an essential stopping point for Christian pilgrims traveling from the Holy Land to the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai.

Research at the site began four years ago with the aim of better understanding how the ancient Christian pilgrimage movement functioned.

Although Nitzana did not have famous sanctuaries or relics, its strategic position-as the last stop before the desert road-transformed the place into a bustling center.

The village once housed up to 2,000 inhabitants, but the large number of churches can only be explained by the constant presence of travelers who passed through, stayed for a while, and needed spiritual and logistical support.

In previous excavations, the team had already found a hostel for pilgrims with a small chapel, bathrooms decorated with marble and paintings, as well as graffiti left by visitors from distant places, such as Georgia and Armenia.

What makes this new church special is the beauty of its mosaics, the only colored ones among all six found at the site-the others had simple stone floors.

Archaeologists were able to date it with rare precision thanks to an inscription engraved in 601 AD.

It records that a man named Sergius financed the construction, along with his sister and nephew, who came from Emesa, a Syrian city now known as Homs.

The name Sergius also appears in ancient papyri discovered at the same site decades ago, and researchers are investigating whether it is the same person.

Interestingly, the church had already been seen about a hundred years ago by two famous British explorers: T.E.

Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, and Leonard Woolley.

At the time, Ottoman authorities were building a military center on the abandoned site and unintentionally exposed the ancient ruins.

The two left a detailed plan of the site, which, combined with modern mapping technologies, allowed the current team to pinpoint exactly where the temple stood.

The village remained active even after the Islamic conquest in 638 AD, and continued to receive Christian pilgrims for another 150 years.

Gradually, however, with the isolation of the Holy Land from the rest of the Christian world, the settlement shrank and was abandoned in the early 9th century.

The archaeologists, led by Professor Yana Tchekhanovets, plan to return to the site next year to excavate adjacent rooms that also have mosaic floors.

They want to find out if it’s another hostel for visitors or perhaps a monastery, helping to further clarify the role of this vibrant community in the past.

This discovery illuminates an important chapter in the history of Christian pilgrimages and shows how a seemingly simple point in the desert became a hub full of life and faith 14 centuries ago.

Published in 03/18/2026 08h01

Portuguese version

Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption.

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