Richard Nowitz

Fit for a king, the burial caves on the grounds of the École Biblique have high ceilings and raised frames carved around the doorways. Gabriel Barkay, co-excavator of the eighth- to seventh-century B.C. cave-tombs, points out architectural features of this ten-foot-high entrance chamber to a Dominican father of the École Biblique. The grand scale of the tomb (see plan) and the elaborate carved decorations lend support to the argument that the École Biblique tombs were the final resting place of the later kings of Judah.

Five of the entrance chamber”s six doorways, which lead to burial chambers, are visible in this photo.