St. George's Church, Madaba

The seven of us had a last breakfast together this morning. Molly, Selim, and Sam were all starting their journeys back to Australia today so we said our goodbyes.

Laura, Matt, Mark and I went out to explore Madaba. Our first stop was St. George's Greek Orthodox Church, home to the Madaba Mosaic Map. This map was part of the floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church which stood on the site. It shows part of the Middle East and contains the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. It dates to the sixth century AD.

In 746, Madaba was largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequently abandoned. The mosaic wasn't rediscovered until 1884, during the construction of a new church on the site of its ancient predecessor.

Today, for the princely sum of 1 JOD each, visitors can enjoy the spectacular map mosaic, as well as many others decorating the walls. It was well worth a visit and we all felt it should have been included on our tour.Read more