by WorldTribune Staff, April 20, 2025 Real World News

A series of centuries-old inscriptions written by religious pilgrims have been discovered by archaeologists at the site believed to be the location of the Last Supper.

Archaeologists identified some 40 inscriptions, including five coats of arms in “The Room of the Last Supper,” also known as the Cenacle, located on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the Austrian Academy of Science revealed on April 16, with the help of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Digitally remastered black-and-white multispectral image of the ‘Teuffenbach’ coat of arms from Styria, with the Armenian Christmas inscription and a Serbian inscription ‘Akakius’ on the right. / Shai Halevi / Israel Antiquities Authority /Austrian Academy of Sciences

“When put together, the inscriptions provide a unique insight into the geographical origins of the pilgrims. This was far more diverse than current Western-dominated research perspective led us to believe,” an Austrian Academy of Sciences press release said.

Most of the inscriptions, which date back to the Middle Ages, were written by Arabic-speaking Christians, the report said.

Inscriptions were also written by pilgrims from Serbia, modern-day Czechia, Germany, Armenia, and Syria.

According to an April 17 report by Ancient Origins: “One particularly fascinating discovery involved Tristram von Teuffenbach of Styria (a state in southeastern Austria), a nobleman who accompanied Archduke Frederick Habsburg—later Holy Roman Emperor—on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1436. Teuffenbach’s family coat of arms was identified on a Cenacle wall and matched to heraldic records from the Styrian region of Murau. This connection was made possible thanks to the OeAW’s long-term project Corpus Vitrearum, which studies stained glass and heraldry from the Middle Ages onward.”

Another notable inscription, the report said, is in Arabic and contains the phrase “…ya al-Ḥalabīya,” which researchers believe would have been left by a Christian woman from Aleppo (“ya” is a feminine suffix in Arabic).

“This piece of evidence is especially rare, as it points to the participation of women in medieval pilgrimages, something only sporadically documented in historical sources. It also further highlights the religious diversity of those who visited the Cenacle,” the report said.

“The discovery makes it clear that making pilgrimages to the site of the Last Supper was a common Eurasian phenomenon in medieval times, with Jerusalem functioning as a crossroads of cultures, languages, and beliefs. This reinforced the sacred nature of the Cenacle, adding more weight to its identification as a holy place for the Christian faith in particular.”

The hall was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century, though pilgrims have venerated the site as early as the 4th century.

‘The Last Supper,’ by Leonardo da Vinci, finished in 1498. / Public Domain

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  Archaeologists reveal centuries-old inscriptions found at site of ‘Last Supper’, WorldTribune.com