Nea Church

In Jerusalem he built an incomparable church in honor of the Virgin. The inhabitants called it the Nea (New) Church... The Emperor Justinian ordered that it be built on the peak of the hills, explaining its dimensions... On one side this church is built on the rock and on the other it is suspended in the air, for the Emperor added more area to the hill. - Procopius, On the Buildings of Justinian, 560 CE

Construction of the church was completed in 543 CE. It was a vast basilica, more than 100 meters long, part of which, as Procopius says, rested on arches and supported walls. Cyril of Beit She an says of the Nea Church that - the size of this holy building, its radiant glory, and the richness of its decorations are too monumental for me to describe. The church lies at the southern extremity of the Cardo. Vestiges of it were uncovered in archaeological digs during the 1970s: parts of the apse, walls, and the vaults which helped support the buildings' wings.