  We present deep VLA observations of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2256.
This cluster is known to possess diffuse steep spectrum radio relic emission in
the peripheral regions. Our new observations provide the first detailed image
of the central diffuse radio halo emission in this cluster. The radio halo
extends over more than 800 kpc in the cluster core, while the relic emission
covers a region of ~1125 x 520 kpc. A spectral index map of the radio relic
shows a spectral steepening from the northwest toward the southeast edge of the
emission, with an average spectral index between 1369 MHz and 1703 MHz of -1.2
across the relic. Polarization maps reveal high fractional polarization of up
to 45% in the relic region with an average polarization of 20% across the relic
region. The observed Faraday rotation measure is consistent with the Galactic
estimate and the dispersion in the rotation measure is small, suggesting that
there is very little contribution to the rotation measure of the relic from the
intracluster medium. We use these Faraday properties of the relic to argue that
it is located on the front side of the cluster.
