This #Church Square tagged image is courtesy of Flickr. Click on the Flickr account holder below the photograph to see more.
Image by ER’s Eyes
In an area of several square kilometres, now called the Baptism Archaeological Park, the Jordanian Department of Antiquities has surveyed, excavated and conserved a series of ancient remains.
These include a walled monastery containing at least four churches and chapels, a prayer hall, a sophisticated water reticulation and storage system and three plastered pools. The wall was intended to prevent erosion, rather than protect against attack.
The discoveries include remains of foundations and walls, mosaic floors, fine coloured stone pavements, Corinthian capitals, column drums and bases, and hermits’ cells and caves.
One of the churches appears to have been built around a natural cave containing fresh spring water — possibly the cave that Byzantine pilgrims called “the cave of John the Baptist”.
The development of facilities for pilgrims has been encouraged by the Jordanian royal family. These facilities include a new road from the Dead Sea area, a visitors’ centre, and paths and walkways to the most important religious and archaeological sites.
In 2015 Bethany Beyond the Jordan was designated a World Heritage site.
This Church Square image was automatically curated and published with WP Robot plugin – CLICK HERE to learn more about WP Robot for WordPress – a massive time and money saver.
