Halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho, on the road that descends through the Judean desert, an old wayside building marks the spot that tradition identifies with the inn of the parable of the Good Samaritan — one of the most universally known stories in Western culture. The site has been turned into a museum devoted to mosaic, and the collection is its distinguishing feature: floors lifted from churches, synagogues and Samaritan sanctuaries have been brought together and displayed side by side, indoors and in the surrounding open ground. The comparison is the point. Placed together, these pavements show a shared visual language across communities that were religiously distinct — the same geometric grammar, the same craftsmen's repertoire of vine scrolls, animals, baskets and interlace, adapted to different liturgies. Around the museum lie remains of earlier structures on the site and the arid landscape of the descent to the Dead Sea. Filmed in 4K, mosaic is an ideal subject: raking light reveals the setting of every tessera, while overhead shots restore the full composition of floors that were designed to be read from above.
