Between conservation and restoration: the wall paintings in the church of the Crusaders in Abu Gosh and the authentication of the site as Emmaus

Abstract

Abstract The wall paintings in the Crusader church in Abu Gosh were conserved and restored in two different operations in the last thirty years. While the conservation revealed new iconographies of the original wall paintings, the restoration added and changed details. The discernment between the two allows us once again to discuss the meaning of the original Crusader decoration program as a whole. This article argues that the frescoes decorating the church reference a set of prominent sacred places in the Holy Land, and suggests an interpretation of the murals in regard to the holy place to which it is linked and to the edifice it adorns.