Lost Crusader high altar rediscovered at Church of the Holy Sepulchre during 2016 restoration

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Key facts

• Two-ton limestone slab discovered leaning against a wall in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, during 2016 restoration
• The slab was turned over, revealing Cosmati-style carving: one large circle orbited by four smaller ones traced by a single unbroken band
• Archaeologist Amit Re'em and historian Ilya Berkovitz traced the carving to the Cosmati family of medieval Roman marble masters
• The only other confirmed Cosmati example north of the Alps is at Westminster Abbey, London, commissioned by the Pope
• The unfinished tower edge identified it as the front face of the Crusader Church high altar, consecrated July 15, 1149
• The altar was used for over six centuries until an 1808 fire damaged the church and the altar vanished
• In 1969, Greek archaeologists excavating beneath the church floor pulled the altar out and propped it against a wall but never published their findings
• For nearly 50 years after 1969, thousands of tourists scratched their names into the lost high altar
• The missing central piece of the slab, nearly a meter across, has never been found

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