Russia starts building museum park complex in Jericho at a plot of land which was earlier returned to the Russian government by authorities of the Palestinian National Authority, Interfax reports.
"The Russian museum in Jericho proves that Russia returns to the Holy Land after a long period of absence and contributes into cultural and spiritual life of people living there and numerous tourists from all over the world who come to visit these places," head of the Presidential Property Management Department of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kozhin said on Thursday at the festival ceremony of laying the foundation stone.
Kozhin believes this project will give more dynamics to Jericho's further development as the future museum will display a fig-tree, which is a living witness to the life of Christ, and other historical, scientific and cultural values located in the territory of the complex, and thus attract greater interest of many pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.
In 1995, the PNA head Yasser Arafat adopted a degree to transfer a land lot as a property to Russia. In 2008, in connection with changes in Palestinian legislation, the lot was reregistered to the Russian government, but it fulfils all land requirements acting in Palestine.
