Moscow, November 10, 2010
"Here we have discovered a complex of Byzantium buildings that dates back to 6-7 centuries. Perhaps, it is remains of a monastery with multicolored mosaics," director of the Archeology Institute and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolay Makarov said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Excavations in Jericho were organized by the Russian Presidential Administration in connection with building Russian museum and park complex and yard facelift.
As Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia had earlier said, Russian Cultural Center in Jericho will become "the first major project in the Holy Land in the third millennium that was actively taken up by the Russian state." The center will be completed in the nearest future.