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The oldest church in the world was
discovered by Professor Thomas Parker by chance as he
was looking for an ancient Roman trading port, and
instead stumbled into a two-story mud-brick building.
The mud brick structure was built
on select Nabatean foundations. Pottery such as Tunisian
red- slipped tableware, from the buildings foundations
dates the church to the late 3rd or beginning of the 4th
century according to Parker.
The newly discovered church is slightly older than the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Church
of Nativity in Bethlehem, both of which date back to the
4th century. The church is found on a plot of land east
of Istiklal Street.
The eastward orientation of the
building, over all spatial structure (a basilica with a
central nave flanked by aisles at the side) and
artifacts such as oil lamp fragment and alter offering
table, have indicated that the building was a church and
may be "the earliest known building specifically
designed as a church."
It was built on stone foundations
with arched doorways. Both the nave and side aisles
appear to have been vaulted. Traces of red and black
paints are preserved on the white plaster of one wall of
the nave but no images are clearly discernible. Seven
stone risers from the stair case suggest the building
had a second story. East of the nave are the chancel
area and a rectangular apse.
The
church was used for less than a century. Its numerous
coins date to 337-361; suggest the church was a victim
of an earthquake that, according to historical sources,
devastated the region.
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