From the top of the windy Mount Nebo, Moses contemplated the promised land, according to the biblical texts. Still today, this mountain located just 7 kilometers from the city of Madaba offers an absolutely emotional panorama. On the few clear days in the hazy eastern Mediterranean, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho, Hebron and Qumran are within reach of the pilgrim. Closer, like liquid wounds in the arid landscape, the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.
On the top of the hill there is a metallic monument that represents a cross (remembering where Jesus died) and a snake coiled around it (referring to the one that Moses carried when he died precisely in this enclave). You climb three steps and you have a sensational view of the Holy Land. The shots, cannon shots and abuses are not perceived from the Jordanian viewpoint, and the postcard seems idyllic.
The exact place where Moses was buried has never been located, but in a relatively small and close area, there are several places that refer to the prophet most invoked by Judaism, the one who carried the tablets of the Law given by God himself. .
Attached to the viewpoint, there is a modern building that could look like a hangar if it weren’t for the fact that its silhouette wants, decidedly, to resemble a church. Thus it is indicated that in the early days of Christianity a temple was erected in that place of which some prodigious remains remain. One only has to penetrate the metallic structure to appreciate some aligned columns that in their day would support the wooden roof of the oratory.
It would have already been a consecrated place around the 4th century, but what can be visited today corresponds to the temple built in the year 530. The most recognizable, the sensational mosaic that reproduces hunting and herding scenes from the time, and that speaks of the fauna that was common in the place fifteen centuries ago: zebus, zebras, wild boars, bears and even ostriches. And, enigmatically, a giraffe in the shape of a camel (or else a spotted camel in the style of the African artiodactyl). Creative license of the artisan or some species that we have not met?
Mount Nebo is not among Jordan’s most coveted tourist destinations, all obscured by the brilliance of the stars Petra and Wadi Rum. But it is the target of Christian pilgrims and also art lovers. It became popular when in the year 2000 Pope John Paul II began his trip to the Holy Land precisely on top of that mountain.
After visiting Mount Nebo, travelers often pass briefly by Madaba, a town that deserves a much higher place on the list of Jordanian attractions. Its churches – the Christian community is still very much alive there – also contain Byzantine tile pavements of enormous historical value. The most outstanding, that of the church of San Jorge, where the oldest map of Jerusalem that we know of is reproduced on the ground.
But there are also temples dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, the apostles and the Virgin Mary, in addition to some Roman ruins that again exhibit mosaic work. This technique is still alive in Mádaba, where there are artisan workshops that manufacture them by reproducing to the millimeter the drawings of the oratorios or devising new designs that end up in wealthy houses in the West.
Madaba is a 45-minute drive from the capital, Amman. And just half an hour from the international airport, which encourages it to be the beginning or end of a trip around the country. From Madaba to Mount Nebo the only transportation is the taxi. The 7 kilometers of distance are usually covered in just over ten minutes.
