Ginosar and the Jesus Boat

Along the western banks of the Sea of Galilee lies Kibbutz Ginosar, the likely site of the biblical village of Ginosar. The current site is home to a kibbutz as well as a full service hotel that attracts many tourists. Adjacent to the property is the Yigal Yadin museum, known as the Man in the Galilee museum, a museum focusing on the local Galilee landscape and history of the region. The museum features numerous antiquities, including the famous "Jesus Boat", a 1st century fishing boat that was uncovered in 1986 by two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, second generation fisherman from the Kibbutz. They discovered the mud covered ancient boat on the normally water-covered banks of the Sea of Galilee during a period of an unusual drought which resulted in extremely low water conditions. It took approximately 12 days and ights to remove the boat and another seven years of submersion in a chemical bath to dry out the antiquity before it was able to be displayed at the center. The process of moving the 2,000 year old boat and preserving it is profiled in a 10 minute movie that can be viewed inside the museum.

Tel 04-672-700.