Madaba Mosaic Map

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Weekend Notes | October 22, 2022

https://www.weekendnotes.com/madaba-map/

When taking a tour of Jordan, you can be sure you’ll be taken to Petra, Jerash, Mount Nebo, Madaba, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea. Those that wish to focus on the religious aspects will have Mount Nebo, Madaba, Bethany on the Jordan and various churches front of mind and it’s in Madaba that you’ll find the oldest and perhaps most religiously significant mosaic residing at the Church of Saint George, a Greek Orthodox Church built in 1896 over the ruins of a 6th century A.D. Byzantine Church, where the map was unearthed, now known colloquially as the “Church of the Map.”

Madaba (an Aramaic name that means “Land of water and fruit”) first mentioned in Moabite King Mesha’s standing stone slab dated 850 B.C. retains its name from the time of the Old Testament as one of the Moabite cities. You know how it’s not uncommon for travellers to go out of their way to stop at a Greek Orthodox Church? People even take a very specific cruise to Alaska just to stop at the Church in Sitka.

But there’s a special reason to go to the Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba, Jordan: the Byzantine Mosaic map, the oldest map of the Holy Land. Go after lunch at Haret Jdoudna, an easy walk to the Church of Saint George. Purchase tickets and review the map in the courtyard before entering the church and spend time taking photos and communing with this masterpiece.