Madaba

Madaba, 30 kilometres south-west of Amman, has been inhabited since the Bronze Age and is mentioned in biblical texts as a Moabite border city. It flourished as part of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea and reached its cultural peak during the Byzantine period (4th–7th centuries AD), when wealthy patrons commissioned the intricate mosaic floors that now define the city. Although a devastating earthquake in AD 746 largely destroyed and abandoned Madaba, the site was resettled in the 19th century and its extraordinary mosaics gradually uncovered from the 1880s onwards.

The centrepiece is the Madaba Map, a floor mosaic in the Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George, created between AD 542 and 570 from more than two million coloured stone tesserae. Originally measuring 21 by 7 metres, the surviving section depicts the Holy Land from Lebanon to the Nile Delta, with Jerusalem rendered in remarkable architectural detail. Nearby, the Church of the Apostles contains a complete mosaic floor, and the Madaba Archaeological Park brings together multiple Byzantine mosaic rooms under a single roof. The city also hosts a Mosaic Art and Restoration Institute preserving these ancient craft traditions.

Madaba is 30 kilometres south-west of Amman, approximately 30 minutes by road, and sits on the same route as the Dead Sea (25 kilometres further west). Mount Nebo, the biblical viewpoint above the Jordan Valley, lies only 10 kilometres to the north-west and is almost always combined with a Madaba visit. Spring and autumn are ideal; the town is small enough to explore in half a day, leaving time to continue to the Dead Sea or Petra.