Tucked away among the narrow streets of Madaba is St George’s Church. And while from the outside, it may look like any other church, inside it’s home to one of Jordan’s greatest treasures – the sixth century map of Madaba.
The Madaba Mosaic Map is a mosaic map of the Holy Land that’s thought to date back to the time of the Emperor Justinian. The mosaic is incomplete with only fragments surviving, but what remains is a detailed and fairly accurate map of the region.
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Mount Sinai, the Jordan River and the Nile Delta are just a few of the famous places featured in the map.
The place names are marked using Greek capital letters, and with more than 2,000 characters, it’s one of the largest surviving pieces of Byzantine writing.
The map lay undiscovered until 1884, and once people realised how important it was, St George’s Church was built around it in 1902 to protect it.
When we arrived at the site, we made our way to the visitor centre next door to the church where we were given a brief introduction to the map, before heading inside the church.
St George’s Church is a small, ornately decorated Greek Orthodox church and its star attraction, the mosaic map, is in the centre, surrounded by protective ropes.
The ancient map was much bigger than I’d anticipated. And while much of it has been lost, the fragments that remain are fascinating and in fairly good condition.
I spent quite a bit of time looking at the different parts of the map, trying to work out where the many places depicted were.
The Mosaic Map of Madaba is an extraordinary piece of Byzantine cartography and craftsmanship, offering an intriguing glimpse into the region’s past.
It’s amazing to think that such a remarkable piece of history has survived for so long and is now taking pride of place in an unassuming church in the middle of Jordan.
Little Old World 