Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos

The Nea Church ( New Church ) was built by order of Justinian I in Jerusalem. She was dedicated to the Mother of God. The building is considered one of the most magnificent buildings of this ruler. It was consecrated in 543 AD on November 20.

The Nea Church is described at various Byzantine authors. Especially Prokopios ( buildings, 5, 6 ) described their design and appearance in detail. A small schematic illustration of the construction can be found on the mosaic map of Madaba.

Remnants of the building were located during excavations headed by Nahman Avigad. Accordingly, the construction was about 116 m long and 57 m wide. The floor was covered with marble. The roof was supported by rows of columns. In the West, the building opened to the Cardo, the colonnaded main street of the city. Here at the entrance there are two gigantic pillars are said to have been found. There was also a forecourt, which in turn was richly decorated with columns. Even on the long sides of the church were pillars courtyards. In the east there were three apses, where the church wall was partially up to 6.5 m wide here. The terrain is very hilly in Jerusalem. Therefore had to be built for the Church a podium on which the building was first built could. These gigantic vaults were built, which are partially excavated and then served as cisterns.