Image is a photo of ‘The mosaic of the Good Shepherd’ and the caption reads: The mosaic of the Good Shepherd represents a young man carrying a sheep on his shoulders and surrounded by animals. It was discovered in a church in Jnah dated to the 5th-6th centuries AD. This image is common in the pagan iconography and symbolizes goodwill. The Christian tradition has abundantly used the figure of the Good Shepherd since the 3rd century AD as the symbolic representation of Christ. Sealed on a wall, this mosaic was badly damaged in its lower left corner by a sniper during Lebanese Civil war (1975-1991).
Museums can be controversial and I do not want to comment on their place or purpose. From the pithy satire And Then God Created the Middle East and Said ‘Let There Be Breaking News’ the author writes:
“People often ask me ‘where is the Middle East?’ It’s the area between Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Turkey and the British Museum.”
One museum I did visit was the National Museum of Beirut. I found the museum to be full of history both from artifacts on display and from the building itself. I learned that in an attempt to preserve the museum it was sealed from the outside. As part of the restoration this mosaic was left partially unrestored and created a new experience with both 6th and 20th century history.