The Lod Mosaic Floor

:Photo curtsey of the Israel Antiquities Authority
.The northern part of the Lod mosaic floor 

A Special Highlight:

In 1996 a series of mosaic floors was accidentally uncovered during highway constructions, nine miles away from Tel-Aviv. When excavations were completed, it became clear that this 1,700 year-old relic is one of the largest and best-preserved mosaics ever uncovered in Israel, measured a staggering total of 1,900 square feet.
The mosaic floors were discovered in the Israeli town Lod, known as ancient Lydda which was destroyed by the Romans in 66 AD, during the Jewish-Roman War. The town was rebuilt by Hadrian and in the year 200 AD it became a Roman colony. It is assumed that the mosaic was a part of a private Roman villa.

In 2012 the mosaic floor had embarked on an international traveling exhibition, at the world's leading museums. After completing displays in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Field Museum in Chicago and the Louvre in Paris, the Lod mosaic floor is on display in Berlin's Altes museum starting this weekend.