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The Glossary
Madaba Travel Guide
Madaba is a work in progress as the mosaic city continually links the fragments of its past to the future. Located in the central-southern Jordan, Madaba is a town built on a natural elevation of the trans-Jordanian plateau known for its mosaic-laden landscape.
Looking at its multi-colored past
Decoding the past of this city isn’t easy despite of the presence of hundreds of relics that date back from the 5th century BC and were scattered throughout Madaba’s churches, museums and homes. The first mosaics were discovered by chance during the building of new apartment blocks by the locals. This discovery caught the attention of archeologists worldwide.
Much of the discovered archeological treasures are concentrated on the northern part of the city. The Hippolytus Mansion, the Burnt Palace even the crypt of the Prophet Elijah were designed with mosaics. The Mansions of the Seasons and the Church of the Apostles (with its two side-chapels in the southern part of the city) also share a common blueprint to the famous Byzantine mosaic.
Discovering mosaics
The narrow streets of Madaba dotted with fine old Ottoman stone houses replete with the imposing structure of the Catholic Church of St. John and other much more beautiful mosaic buildings are often ignored by tourists in a hurry to get to the Rose-Red city of Petra and Amman.
Other than being a gateway to the Palace of King Herod and to the Dead Sea, there are other areas of interest in Madaba that merit a visit, including Mount Nebo and Umm Ar-Rasas.
Life has changed gradually in Madaba but this small biblical town retains its reputation as an archeologist paradise and a city with overwhelming riches.
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