A new exhibition in northern Israel provides the first public glimpse of an ancient Jewish village with synagogue floor mosaics said to be among the most beautiful ever discovered in the country.

The “Secrets of Huqoq” exhibition at the Yigal Allon Center Museum in Kibbutz Ginosar, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, explores the ruins of Huqoq, a flourishing ancient Jewish village that thrived during the Roman-Byzantine period. The location overlooks the Huqoq excavation site in the Amiad Forest on the shores of the lake.

The 1,600-year-old site is exceptional for its ancient synagogue with well-preserved and colorful mosaics, including scenes from the biblical story of Samson.

“Extraordinary in their beauty and narrative richness, including rare biblical and extra-biblical scenes… the Huqoq mosaics are unequalled by any other synagogue in Israel,” the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement announcing the new display.

Huqoq remained a prosperous Jewish village during the Byzantine period even as Christianity became the empire’s dominant religion.

At the center of the exhibition is the original mosaic of Samson, carrying the gates of the city of Gaza on his shoulders as described in the Book of Judges. Other mosaics are not yet publicly........

© The Times of Israel