- Address
Junction of highways 92 and 789, Israel - Web
https://en.parks.org.il/reserve-park/kursi-national-park/ - Visiting Hours
From April to September, from 8:00 to 17:00. From October to March, and also Fridays and Feast eves, from 8:00 to 16:00. - What to see
Ruins of the complex, Byzantine mosaics, oil press, ruins of baths, late Roman chapel, enchanted bench
Kursi National Park contains the ruins of the largest Byzantine complex discovered until now in the Holy Land. It was discovered in 1970 during construction work on the close 92 Highway. It is erected in the place where the Christian tradition locates Gerasa, the place of the miracle of Jesus of the herd of pigs. It consists of a temple with an apse, surrounded by auxiliary rooms, including one that contains an oil press, and another with a chapel. It has a huge front patio, where Christian pilgrims who came to the place were supposed to be welcomed.
The construction was damaged during the invasion of Chosroes in the year 614, and definitively abandoned by the Christians after the earthquake of 749. It has beautiful mosaic floors, as well as a crypt under the side chapel.
A few meters up the hill is an even older chapel, near the cave (today not visitable) where tradition says that the possessed man that Jesus exorcised lived. This chapel contains even older mosaics.
Sources
https://www.seetheholyland.net/kursi/
Florentino Díez, Guía de Tierra Santa, ed. Verbo Divino
Photo Credit
Inma Álvarez
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