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PHOTOS OF JORDAN
Mount Nebo,
Madaba and the Madaba Plateau
(Mukawir, Um Al Rasas)
These are
"thumbnail" pictures. Click on them to open a larger
version.
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Biblical tradition says that Moses died on this mountain top after having seen the promised land beyond, in which he could never set foot. The right hand photo looks towards Jerusalem, invisible in the haze. You really need to be here in the early morning to see it.
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This is what is everybody is looking at in the left hand photo
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The Moses
memorial church at Mount Nebo. This is a very simple church
nowadays, but so peaceful.
Mukawir
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The dramatic scenery of Mukawir, Herod the Great's fortress of Machaerus. In the left hand photo the pathway crosses the remains of the aqueduct, and in the others the columns of the palace can still be seen, silhouetted on the summit of the hill.
Madaba
Madaba is known as "the mosaic city". Many mosaics have been found here and in the region around. Most certainly the best known of them is the the famous "mosaic map" of the Holy Land to be seen in St George's Church in Madaba. Here are two views of it, one a general one and the second showing the city of Jerusalem with its citadel clearly depicted.
Although the "map" is as I say, the best known, there are many other mosaics worth seeing when you are in Madaba. Some are in the same church of St George, some are in other churches, still others are in the Museum or in the "Archaeological Park". If you have the time, you might also like to visit the school of mosaic restorers there.
There are very many mosaics elsewhere on the Madaba Plateau, some completely unknown to non-specialists - see the web page "Mosaics of the Madaba Plateau")
Um Al
Rasas
The mosaic in the ruined St Stephen's Church in Um Al Rasas south of Madaba is quite exceptional, showing a central panel, much disfigured by "iconoclasts" in Byzantine times, but the side borders which you can see clearly here depict towns in Palestine, Egypt and Jordan. They are named for easier identification and give us an idea what these towns were actually like. It seems as if the images chosen were is some sort a "symbol" of that town at the time the mosaic was made - it has been dated to 785AD.
A shelter has been constructed to protect the mosaic as much as possible.
Sites pages - Dead Sea, Mount Nebo
(see also "Mosaics of the Madaba Plateau")
Other pages in the Photo Gallery
Revised January 2003
