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25-555: The museum features artifacts from all historical periods. Among these are artifacts and decorated architectural fragments from a number of Byzantine-period Christian churches and villages, including finds from Kursi , on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee , which is identified with Gergasa , the New Testament site of the "Miracle of the Gadarene swine " (Luke 8:22-39). A room in the museum

50-547: A Jewish or Judeo-Christian population. The site is located near the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee on the bank of a wadi , Nahal Samakh, descending from the Golan Heights . Kursi has been identified by tradition as the site of the "Miracle of the Swine", where Jesus healed one or two men possessed by demons by driving these into a herd of pigs ( Mark 5 :1–20, Matthew 8 :28–34, Luke 8 :26–39). The details differ somewhat in

75-465: A building's upper stories more quickly. Another downside to incorporating an atrium is that it typically creates unused vertical space which could otherwise be occupied by additional floors. One of the main public spaces at Federation Square , in Melbourne , Australia, is called The Atrium and is a street-like space, five stories high with glazed walls and roof. The structure and glazing pattern follow

100-496: A chapel squeezed in between the hillside and the boulder. Three distinct layers of mosaic floor and an apse were excavated here. The ruins of the monastery were first unearthed by road construction crews in 1970, and the major excavation took place between 1971 and 1974 headed by Israeli archaeologist Dan Urman and his Greek colleague Vassilios Tzaferis for the Israel Antiquities Authority . Together they excavated

125-457: A dynamic and stimulating interior that provides shelter from the external environment while maintaining a visual link with that environment. Designers enjoy the opportunity to create new types of spaces in buildings, and developers see atria as prestigious amenities that can increase commercial value and appeal. In a domus , a large house in ancient Roman architecture , the atrium was the open central court with enclosed rooms on all sides. In

150-560: A synagogue has also been unearthed in 2015. Large parts of a marble slab shattered into pieces and inscribed in Aramaic was found inside this building, and two words were deciphered shortly after the discovery: "amen" and "marmaria"; the latter, literally 'marble', has been interpreted by some scholars as perhaps linked with the cult of the Virgin Mary, possibly meaning 'Maria's [great] rabbi', since 'mar' means rabbi. The scholars who excavated

175-523: Is an archaeological site in the Golan Heights containing the ruins of a Byzantine monastery and identified by tradition as the site of Jesus ' " Miracle of the Swine ". Part of the archaeological site is now an Israeli national park. Kursi takes its name from the Talmudic site. A marble slab with Aramaic text discovered in December 2015 seems to indicate that the settlement had, as of c.  500 CE ,

200-589: Is dedicated to the story of Gamla , the Jewish town besieged and razed by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War . A scale model and film are used to describe the conquest and destruction of the town and all of its inhabitants by Vespasian in 67 CE. On display are finds from the site, including arrowheads, ballista stones, clay oil lamps, and coins minted in the town during the siege. Other artifacts of note in

225-403: Is largely built over a large cistern, as one can see from the two well heads; a ladder leading down to the cistern is not accessible to visitors. A small Byzantine chapel stood outside the main compound, on the hill to the south. Here a large boulder was probably considered to be the exact site of the miracle. Remains were discovered of what might have been a tower built around the boulder and of

250-641: Is the only such marble tablet ever found (as of 2015) in an ancient synagogue in Israel or the Golan Heights. The inscription is the first to indicate that the settlement at Kursi was Jewish or Judaeo-Christian. Atrium (architecture) In architecture , an atrium ( pl. : atria or atriums) is a large open-air or skylight -covered space surrounded by a building . Atria were a common feature in Ancient Roman dwellings , providing light and ventilation to

275-501: The Byzantine period . This being a major pilgrimage site, a number of buildings were built for the accommodation of pilgrims as well as the local monastic community, all surrounded by walls and other fortifications. In 614 the Sassanian (Persian) armies invaded Palestine laying waste most of its churches and monasteries, including the one at Kursi. The church was later rebuilt, but part of

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300-536: The interior . Modern atria, as developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries, are often several stories high, with a glazed roof or large windows , and often located immediately beyond a building's main entrance doors (in the lobby ). Atria are a popular design feature because they give their buildings a "feeling of space and light." The atrium has become a key feature of many buildings in recent years. Atria are popular with building users, building designers and building developers. Users like atria because they create

325-494: The Sea of Galilee was guarded by a watchtower, and a paved road led down to a harbor, where pilgrim boats could berth. Once inside the wall, the pilgrims had the choice of going first to a luxurious bathhouse (excavated area to the left/north of the entrance), or going straight to the centrally placed church. The church is 24 x 45 sq. metres in area, and was entered through a forecourt opening onto an atrium or inner courtyard, followed by

350-532: The church proper which was flanked on both sides by chapels and auxiliary rooms. The church is of the basilical type, with two rows of columns separating it into a nave and two aisles. The mosaic floor of the nave consists of geometrical designs, while the lateral aisles once contained medallions with depictions of the local flora and fauna; most of these have been destroyed, but some are still visible, such as geese , doves , cormorants and fish, citrons , dates , pomegranates , and grapes. The baptistery chapel on

375-456: The destroyed settlement was left in its ruined state. The church continued functioning under Muslim rule after the conquest of Palestine in 638–641 until being totally devastated by the 749 earthquake . Arab squatters used the ruins as dwellings and for storage in the 9th century, marking the end of Kursi's use as a Christian pilgrimage site. The monastery is surrounded by a rectangular stone wall measuring 145 x 123 meters. The entrance facing

400-454: The fragments assume that the marble tablet initially measured some 120 by 60 centimetres. They describe the inscription as being in Hebrew, at least 1,600 years old, and consisting of eight lines commemorating a man (or several) from Tiberias who has (or have) made a donation for the building that included marble. The tablet was set into the floor and was surrounded by a simple opus sectile . It

425-486: The largest Byzantine monastic complex found in Israel. Further excavations have since been taking place, the marble-lined bath-house being one of the more recent discoveries. The church has been reconstructed to a degree which allows the visitor to understand its three-dimensional shape and size. Christian artifacts from Kursi can be viewed at the Golan Archaeological Museum . A building that may have been

450-402: The middle of the atrium was the impluvium , a shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch rainwater from the roof. Some surviving examples are beautifully decorated. The opening in the ceiling above the pool ( compluvium ) called for some means of support for the roof, and it is here where one differentiates between five different styles of atrium. As the centrepiece of the house, the atrium

475-455: The museum are many columns, lintels and other architectural parts recovered from the ruins of ancient synagogues throughout the Golan Heights. These are elaborately carved with dedicatory inscriptions and with Jewish symbols. 32°59′43″N 35°41′18″E  /  32.995369°N 35.688325°E  / 32.995369; 35.688325 Kursi, Golan Heights Kursi ( Medieval Greek : Κυρσοί , Hebrew : כורסי , Arabic : الكرسي )

500-412: The southern side of the central apse has a small baptismal font, and the mosaic floor includes an inscription indicating that it was laid in the year 585. A staircase (not accessible to visitors) leads from the southern end of the narthex to a crypt used for burials, where archaeologists have found several intact skeletons. Among the rooms on the northern side is one containing an olive press. The atrium

525-557: The system of fractals used to arrange the panels on the rest of the facades at Federation Square. In Nashville, Tennessee , U.S., the Opryland Hotel hosts 4 different large atria, spanning 9 acres (36,000 m ) of glass ceiling in total, in the hotel above the gardens of: Delta, Cascades, Garden-Conservatories, and Magnolia. When it opened in 2019, the Leeza SOHO in Beijing , had

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550-484: The term atrium is not usually used to describe Islamic architecture ). The 19th century brought the industrial revolution with great advances in iron and glass manufacturing techniques. Courtyards could then have horizontal glazing overhead, eliminating some of the weather elements from the space and giving birth to the modern atrium. Fire control is an important aspect of contemporary atrium design due to criticism that poorly designed atria could allow fire to spread to

575-466: The three Synoptic Gospels dealing with the episode, and again some more in various ancient manuscripts of those same gospels. The events take place in the land of either the Gerasenes, Gadarenes or Gergesenes (Mark 5:1, Matthew 8:28, Luke 8:26). Exorcised was either one man as per Mark and Luke, or two as per Matthew. The monastery and its church were built in the 5th century, remaining in use throughout

600-408: The water cistern fed by water seeping through the porous bottom of the overlying impluvium. The atrium contributed to the passive cooling of the house. The term was also used for a variety of spaces in public and religious buildings, mostly forms of arcaded courtyards, larger versions of the domestic spaces. Byzantine churches were often entered through such a space (as are many mosques , though

625-422: Was the most lavishly furnished room. Wealthier houses often included a marble cartibulum , an oblong marble table supported by trapezophoros pedestals depicting mythological creatures like winged griffins. Also, it contained the little chapel to the ancestral spirits ( lararium ), the household safe ( arca ) and sometimes a bust of the master of the house. The cylindrical puteal (a wellhead) gave access to

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