Ancient Christian monastery in Gaza added to Unesco World Heritage List

Saint Hilarion, part of Tell Umm Amer archaeological site, to receive immediate funding for preservation following emergency nomination

The ruins of the monastery of Saint Hilarion are at Tell Umm Amer, a site that dates back to the fourth century. AFP

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Palestinian archaeological site Tell Umm Amer has been added to the Unesco World Heritage List.

Its inclusion comes after an emergency nomination due to the Israel-Gaza war. The announcement was made as part of the ongoing session of the organisation's World Heritage Committee, which runs until Wednesday in New Delhi.

In addition to the international recognition of its history and heritage, being part of the World Heritage List provides the settlement access to emergency funding and technical assistance from Unesco to protect and preserve the site.

Located south of Gaza city, Tell Umm Amer dates back to the fourth century. It is home to the ruins of the monastery of Saint Hilarion with its two churches, a burial site, a baptism hall, a public cemetery, an audience hall and dining rooms.

The archaeological site of Saint Hilarion in the centre of the Gaza Strip. AFP

As part of its 2012 submission to the Unesco World Heritage Tentative List, an inventory of cultural and heritage sites preceding the World Heritage List, the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to Unesco highlighted Tell Umm Amer’s significance to the origins of Christianity in Palestine.

“The monastery of Saint Hilarion is one of the rare sites in its architectural elements and which bears an exceptional historical, religious and cultural testimony. The monastery used to be an important station on the crossroads between Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia,” it read.

"The site is tangibly associated with the phenomenon of the flowering of monastic desert centres in Palestine during the Byzantine period. Saint Hilarion’s monastery was perhaps a centre of missionary work in the Gaza region, seemingly isolated in the desert but actually at the centre of affairs at communications crossroads.”

More than 200 of Palestine's historical and archaeological sites have been damaged or destroyed since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, according to a statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Culture on January 1.

These include the 1,400-year-old Al Omari Mosque, Gaza's oldest, whose minaret was left standing amid the rubble after an Israeli military offensive. Also destroyed was the Hamam Al Sumara, the only functioning bathhouse remaining in Gaza and dating back to 1320.

Palestine currently has four sites on the World Heritage List – the Church of Nativity of Bethlehem, first completed in 339; the village of Battir in southern Jerusalem famed for its olive groves and vine fields; and the Tell es Sultan site (also known as Ancient Jericho) that contains archaeological deposits dating back to 10,500 BC.

As part of the latest session by Unesco's World Heritage Committee, three other sites from a list of 28 hail from the Middle East, each of which will be considered for addition to the list over the next several days.

These are Umm Al Jimal, an ancient town in northern Jordan with a history dating back to the Nabataean period between the first century BC and second century; the Al Faw archaeological area in Saudi Arabia, a site of a once-bustling city in the Arabian Peninsula that flourished between the fourth century BC and the fourth century; and Hegmataneh and Historical Centre of Hamedan, considered one of Iran's oldest inhabited cities with a history dating back to the first millennium BC.