Only 33 kilometres from the capital lies another "pearl" of Jordan - Madaba (ancient Medeva). The city, which has earned the title "the city of mosaics", was founded about 4,500 years ago. It has passed from hand to hand of numerous conquerors, many times wiped off the face of the earth and revived again, and nowadays it is one of the centres of Christianity in the Middle East. Since the 6th century AD, Christian religious buildings have been erected in the city, the beautiful mosaics of which have made Madaba famous. The most famous of the panels found here is a mosaic map of the Holy Land (VI century, original dimensions 25 by 5 m.), depicting the territory from the Phoenician city of Tyre (Lebanon) to the Nile Delta in Egypt (in the centre - Jerusalem with the layout of the time). Nowadays the map is in the functioning (!!!) Orthodox Church of St George (1884), built over the remains of a Byzantine church. There are a number of other well-preserved mosaic floors and panels (some of them are kept in the homes of local residents), the Cathedral of the Head of John the Baptist, the Church of the Prophets (578 AD), the Archaeological Park (containing the Church of the Virgin Mary (6th century), the Roman Hall of Hippolytus (6th century), the Forum, the colonnades of Cardo Maximus and the Church of St. Elias (4th century)) and a fine museum, among others.
