After its conditions deteriorated for many years the monastery of St. Hilarion in Gaza Strip is now living its days after its restoration works was about to finish.
The Monastery of St. Hilarion is one of the most important archaeological sites in Palestine which dates back to 329 AD. St. Hilarion is one of the largest monasteries in Palestine in terms of space and design.
Months before the restoration of the monastery began with a funding from the British Council as part the project to protect the Palestinian cultural heritage which focuses on two sites in Gaza now.
New location
The Monastery of St. Hilarion is surrounded by walls. On the western side rooms and a large building for the reception of the visitors are seen and more visible signs are inside.
Working as hard as a bee workers and experts are deployed in the courtyard of the monastery under the guidance of French archaeologists who divide roles between teams and technicians.
According to Fadl al-Aoutl a specialist in archaeological sites in Gaza the monastery was very present in people’s lives during the fourth fifth and sixth centuries until the end of the seventh century in addition to the Islamic Umayyad period.
“We recently built wooden corridors and protection walls and a building for visitors and we have almost finished the restoration and maintenance of the Demas area which will be completed in a few days” added Aoutl a cadre of the French School of Archaeology.
Near the churchyard four girls are re-establishing archaeological stones in the western part of the church square while other workers work in the far north of the place by grinding stones before fixing them.
“The girls break up the old stones and take them to another place after the young men cut them into appropriate sizes to complete the restoration of the Demas area which is six meters lower than the rest of the place where the erosion factors had a big impact.”
A Place to visit
Experts from the French School of Archaeology divide tasks among the crews who have been active for months at the archaeological site in the hope that the mission will be completed soon.
The monastery of St. Hilarion in the early nineties had lost much of its treasures due to looting because of neglect and years of siege.
Ayman Hassouna Professor of Archaeology at the Islamic University in Gaza said that the project aims to protect the cultural heritage in Palestine especially in Gaza which is deprived of such attention due to twelve years of siege.
“The British Council provided funding and we hired experts from the French School of Archaeology and we are now in an advanced stage and soon the work will be completely finished” said Hassouna.
Hassouna stresses the importance of the cultural aspect in education especially for students who rarely visit archaeological sites that speak about the history of Palestine.
