One of the most intriguing and surprisingly intact architectural details found throughout Israel are the mosaics.  Found in both public and private areas, this art form was commonly used to decorate floors and walls.

Mosaic is the art of creating images by arranging together small pieces of stone, glass or other hard material.  Mosaics found in the Mesopotamia date to the second half of 3rd Millennium BC.

Completed in 1982, the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes highlights restored 5th Century mosaics of an earlier church that had been built in 480 CE.  Featuring wetland plants and birds these mosaics are the earliest known examples of figured pavement in Christian art in Israel.

The expansive, first century BCE, building project in Caesarea by Herod the Great, is a multi layered site with geometric mosaics found in the Roman gymnasium.

Magdala, an important fishing community on the Sea of Galilee, is considered to be the home town of Mary Magdalene.  Recent, extensive excavations have uncovered the ruins of the Third or Second century BCE town and its synagogue, one of the earliest found in the Galilee.

Marble mosaic floors in the Catholicon of The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre date to the Crusader era

Mr. H says: Each of us represent one little stone, creating the great human mosaic-Enjoy!