Madaba and the Mosaic Map

Madaba, a friendly town on the plateau southwest of Amman with a notable Christian community, is famous as the City of Mosaics for the extraordinary Byzantine floor mosaics preserved in its churches and buildings. The most celebrated is in the church of St George, where set into the floor is the oldest known map of the Holy Land, made in the sixth century from more than a million pieces of coloured stone, depicting Jerusalem, the Jordan, the Dead Sea and dozens of towns with labels and vignettes, a document of enormous value to scholars and a wonder to see. Other churches and an archaeological park hold further superb mosaics of hunting scenes, birds, animals and mythological figures, some in their original settings. Compact and walkable, Madaba pairs naturally with nearby Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have looked out over the Promised Land, and it makes an easy and rewarding half-day from Amman.

What you actually see

• The Madaba Map - the 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land in St George's Church.
• The Archaeological Park - mosaics preserved in situ from churches and villas.
• The Church of the Apostles - with its fine personification of the sea in mosaic.
• The town itself - the mosaic workshops and the Christian quarter.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the most pleasant; the plateau is milder than the Jordan valley below. The town is easily seen in a morning or afternoon and combines well with Mount Nebo. St George's is a working church, so services may limit access at times, worth checking.

Honest expectations

The famous map is worn and incomplete, a section of a once-larger mosaic, so it is smaller and more fragmentary than photographs suggest, and appreciating it takes a little context, which a guide or the labels provide. St George's is an active church, so visits fit around worship. Madaba itself is a modest town rather than a sight in its own right, best paired with Mount Nebo to fill a half-day.

Nearby

Mount Nebo is a short drive away; the baptism site and the Dead Sea are down in the valley.