Baptism Site of Jesus

About Baptism Site of Jesus

Al-Maghtas, the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ (Bethany Beyond the Jordan), lies on the east bank of the River Jordan in Jordan, about 9 km north of the Dead Sea and 55 km from Amman, and was inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2015. The Arabic name means "the immersion"; Christian tradition places here the baptism of Isa (Jesus) by Yahya (John the Baptist), and the same tradition remembers Tell al-Kharrar, "Elijah's Hill", as the spot from which the Prophet Ilyas (Elijah) was taken up. A Muslim visitor meets here the memory of three prophets named in the Qur'an, the River Jordan known from the history books, and a view across to the land of Palestine on the far bank. On Tell al-Kharrar are the remains of a 5th-century Byzantine monastery with three churches and three baptismal pools once fed by spring water through ceramic pipes; by the river stand churches built in stages since the emperor Anastasius raised the first church of John the Baptist between 491 and 518, including the Lower and Upper Basilicas with marble floors and a marble staircase of 570, and hermits' caves in the Quattara hills. The site was uncovered after 1994 once mines were cleared, the archaeologist Mohammad Waheeb began excavating in 1997, and it opened for daily visits in 2002. Pope John Paul II came in 2000, Benedict XVI in 2009 and Francis in 2014, several Christian denominations have built modern churches around it, and thousands of pilgrims celebrate Epiphany here every January.

Where:

Bethany Beyond Jordan, Jordan