Museums: Russian museum complex opens in Jericho

Vladimir Kozhin, Head of the Department of Presidential affairs, has laid the first stone to the foundation of the future museum-park ensemble, which will be erected in the Palestinian city - Jericho, on the Russian land. The complex will include a museum, a hotel and a park. The construction is supposed to be completed by October, 10 2010, the year of 10,000^th foundation anniversary of the city Jericho.

The allotment, located in the center of biblical city, whose square totaled a hectare, was bought by Russians in 19c., however after the revolution it was actually lost. In 1995 the Palestinian National Administration transferred this land to the Government of the Russian Federation and finally registered it as Russian property in 2008.

The pearl of the Russian piece of land – is a Zacchaeus' sycamore fig in Jericho. It is often called a single alive witness of Jesus’s deeds. According to Gospel of Luke, the Zacchaeus (a tax-gatherer in Jericho) climbed up a sycamore fig tree so that he might be able to see Jesus.