Mount Nebo

Just about 10 kilometers to the west of Madaba is Mount Nebo which was known as Pisgah in the Bible. It is very close to the village of Faysaliyah and flanked on the west by the Jordan valley. Mount Nebo, by virtue of its 1000 meter elevation, provides a natural balcony for a bird’s eye view of the Holy Land and the areas of Southern Jordan. On another side you can see the Dead Sea and the Desert of Judah. If you look to the West, you can see the mountains of Judea and Samaria. On a very clear day you can see Bethlehem and the towers and buildings of Jerusalem. It is believed that this is the mountain from which Moses saw the Promised Land before his death. Mount Nebo’s highest peak reaches a height of 800 meters above the surrounding Belqa Plateau. The other peaks are slightly lower and average about 700 meters.

Mount Nebo which is one of the most revered and respected among the holy sites in Jordan is ten kilometers to the west of the town of Madaba. You can see the route which the King of Edon had forbidden Prophet Moses to travel on. You will also see the holy place where Moses was laid to rest and the place from where Pope John Paul II started on his first pilgrimage of the millennium. You will be able to feel their divine presence. As the place is connected with Moses, Mount Nebo has been an important place of Christian pilgrimage from a very long time. Excavations have revealed important remains of the early church.

Mount Nebo’s first church was constructed in the latter half of the 4th century to commemorate the place of Moses’ death. It had three apses with a vestibule paved with plain white mosaic in the front. On either side of the lateral apses, you can see two funeral chapels. Six tombs have been found hollowed from the natural rock beneath the mosaic floor of the church. Have a look at the presbytery, and you can see remnants of mosaic floors of different periods.

In 531 AD a Diaconicon Baptistery was constructed to the north of the courtyard adjacent to one of the funeral chapels. It was accessible by a short flight of stairs as it was slightly lower than the courtyard. This rectangular room contains the baptismal stone fountain which is in the form of a cross.

About a kilometer east of Mount Nebo, you will come across the Spring of Moses, which was mentioned by Egeria and Theodosius. If you were to come here in the spring season, you will see the entire area full of eucalyptus trees especially near the two churches built in the 6th century. These churches were destroyed by a powerful earthquake in 749 AD.

Mount Nebo Jordan Today, Mount Nebo is a Franciscan monastery and the headquarters of the Franciscan Archeological Institute. It is a popular destination for tourists and pilgrims. Mount Nebo offers you a spectacular view of the surrounding areas – Bethlehem, and the buildings from the Mount of Olives to Ramallah in Jerusalem. You can see the Dead Sea, the Oasis of Jericho, Shunet Nimrin, the dams of the Eadi Shueib and Wadi Kafrein, and Suweimeh.