<P> Bargil Pixner, for example, following the survey conducted by Jacob Pinkerfeld in 1948, believed that the original building was a synagogue later probably used by Jewish Christians . However, no architectural features associated with early synagogues such as columns, benches, or other accoutrements are present in the lower Tomb chamber . According to Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis writing towards the end of the 4th century, the building and its environs were spared during the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus (AD 70). Pixner suggests that the area on Mount Zion was destroyed and that the Cenacle was rebuilt in the later first century . The lowest courses of ashlars (building stones) along the north, east and south walls are attributed by Pinkerfeld to the late Roman period (135 - 325 CE). Pixner believes rather that they are Herodian - period ashlars, allowing him to date the construction of the building to an earlier period . Many scholars, however, date the walls' earliest construction to the Byzantine period and identify the Cenacle as the remains of a no - longer - extant Hagia Sion ("Holy Zion") basilica . The Roman emperor Theodosius I constructed the five - aisled Hagia Sion basilica likely between 379 and 381 CE . Despite the opinion of those scholars who would characterize the Cenacle as a remainder of Theodosius's basilica, sixth - century artistic representations, such as the mosaics found in Madaba, Jordan (the "Madaba Map") and the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, depict a smaller structure just to the south of basilica . Some have identified this smaller structure as the Cenacle thus demonstrating its independence from, and possible prior existence to, the basilica . The basilica (and the Cenacle?) was later damaged by Persian invaders in 614 AD but restored by the patriarch Modestus . In AD 1009 the church was destroyed by the Muslim caliph Al - Hakim . Shortly afterward it was replaced by the Crusaders with a cathedral named for Saint Mary featuring a central nave and two side aisles . The Cenacle was either repaired or enclosed by the Crusader church, occupying a portion of two aisles on the right (southern) side of the altar . The Crusader cathedral was destroyed soon afterward, in the late 12th or early 13th century, but the Cenacle remained . (Today, part of the site upon which the Byzantine and Crusader churches stood is believed to be occupied by the smaller Church of the Dormition and its associated Abbey .) Syrian Christians maintained the Cenacle until the 1330s when it passed into the custody of the Franciscan Order of Friars who managed the structure until 1524 . At that time Ottoman authorities took possession of the Cenacle converting it into a mosque . The Franciscans were completely evicted from their surrounding buildings in 1550 . Architectural evidence remains of the period of Muslim control including the elaborate mihrab in the Last Supper room, the Arabic inscriptions on its walls, the qubba over the stairwell, and the minaret and dome atop the roof . Christians were not officially allowed to return until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 . The historical building is currently managed by the State of Israel Ministry of the Interior . </P> <P> Scholars offer wide - ranging dates and builders for the surviving Gothic - style Cenacle . Some believe that it was constructed by Crusaders just before Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, while others attribute it to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, after he arrived in the city in 1229 . Still others hold that it was not built in this form until the Franciscans acquired the site in the 1330s . Scarce documentation and disturbed structural features offer little strong support for any of these dates . </P> <P> In its current state, the Cenacle is divided into six rib - vaulted bays . The bays are supported by three freestanding columns which bilaterally divide the space, as well as six pillars flanking the side walls . While the capital of the westernmost freestanding column is flush with the Cenacle's interior wall, the column shaft itself is completely independent of the wall, leading scholars to consider the possibility that this wall was not original to the building . </P> <P> An analysis of the column and pillar capitals offers clues, but not a solution, to the mystery of the current building's origin . The Corinthianesque capital between the second and third bays of the Cenacle is stylistically indicative of multiple geographical regions and chronological periods . This capital's spiky leaves, which tightly adhere to the volume of the column before erupting into scrolls, are in congruence with common outputs of the 12th century sculpture workshop at the Temple site in Jerusalem in the last years before Saladin's conquest in 1187 . The workshop also frequently utilized drilling as an ornamental device . The Jerusalem workshop included artists from diverse regions in the West, who brought stylistic traits with them from their native countries . The workshop produced sculpture for many Crusader projects and other structures, such as the al - Aqsa mosque . </P>

The room of the last supper on mount zion