It was the final day of August last year and I had taken the day off from work. Coordinating with Bracha’s plans to go shopping for Amir’s first birthday, which was to take place in one week’s time, I decided on a spontaneous trip with the little boy. We were to visit the newly opened Lod Mosaic Centre, built to house none other than the famous Lod mosaic which was painstakingly unearthed starting in 1996.

Father-son outing

I had visited neighbouring Ramla back in 2017 with Adam Ota, and we had attempted to see all the main sites of interest, but the city of Lod had always escaped me. This was to be my first real visit to Lod, strangely enough, and I noted that there was even a playground just outside the centre – perfect for entertaining Amir even more.

Inside the museum

We arrived at the museum, entered and began our self-guided tour. At first, I was surprised at how small the place was (reminiscent of Beit Alpha national park), but it made perfect sense. The building was simply covering the site of the famous mosaic, which had been removed, restored, internationally displayed on tour, and finally replaced to the very earth it called home since the late Roman period some 1,750 years prior. There is really no need for a bigger building.

Gazing out at the spectacular work of art

Passing some fragmented mosaics on display, we made our way through the tastefully-lit central room (or atrium, in this case) where the main mosaic is located. The museum structure mimics a typical upper class Roman villa, a recreation of sorts of the house that once existed on site. We gazed out at the vast central floor, covered in an intricate collection of mosaic motifs and patterns, and tried to take it all in.

DIY mosaic tables

Amir was at that transitional age between crawling and cruising, so I let him down to explore as I took pictures and read the display signs. The focal point of the giant mosaic intrigued me most, being a montage of exotic and mostly African mammals posed together in a manner somewhat reminiscent of The Lion King. I pointed out the tiger to Amir, who was overall quite familiar with the striped beast, but I don’t think he quite caught on to my helpful intentions.

Amir playing with the mock mosaic tiles

Perhaps what was more relevant for him was the DIY mosaic tables where trayfuls of small colourful tiles were to be placed in efforts to create mock mosaics. This was geared towards children and had innumerous choking hazards, so, naturally, Amir wanted to give it a try. Carefully, and under my supervision, he had a try at making his own mosaic as well.

A closer look at the magnificent handiwork

Returning to the ancient masterpiece at our feet, we looped around to the far end of the floor mosaic and completed our circumnavigation with an appropriate amount of approving nods and low murmurs of admiration at the magnificent handiwork seen before us. We then popped outside into a small courtyard where another floor mosaic awaited us. While this one was far less preserved, it was only to be expected as this courtyard was identified as the original Roman villa’s peristyle courtyard. Albeit damaged, we were still able to make out some of the scenes described in the medallion-patterned layout.

The outer courtyard

Also featured outdoors was a chronological overview of Lod overall, ranging from the prehistoric Neolithic period until modern times. Naturally, I took particular interest in the Crusader period, which unfortunately was the only time period listed not to feature any artefacts on display. I settled for a collection of ancient ceramic vessels of other time periods and a neat Scottish military beret pin from the British Mandate period. One final exhibit caught my eye, and that was an interesting cabinet of drawers tucked into the far corner. Within, each drawer represented a different layer (or stratum, as it is known in archaeology) in the sample soil. This gave a very hands-on representation of archaeological work, and the expected results as one digs deeper and deeper into the past. Even with my hands-on knowledge of archaeology, I felt that this exhibition really hit the nail on the proverbial head and applauded the designers.

Outside the Lod Mosaic Centre

We finished our educational trip in the small playground outside, where Amir played a bit and enjoyed a sandwich for lunch. There was of course still more to see nearby, and I was fortunate enough to pick up a map and some tourist literature, but those sites will simply have to wait for another day.