From Madaba, the city of mosaics. Mosaics are works of art made up of many small pieces of stone. One of the most famous mosaics in the world is located in Madaba, Jordan. This mosaic is unique because it’s a piece of art AND a map!

The Madaba Mosaic Map is located on the floor of St. George’s Church. It was made in the 6th century CE. The map was created out of more than one and a half million tiny pieces of stone. When we visited the church to see the map, large sections were missing. I learned that about 1/3 of the map has been damaged by earthquakes and foot traffic.

The Madaba Map is often called a map of the Holy Land. This is because many of the places shown on the map are mentioned in the Bible. Some of these sites include: the Jordan River, Mt. Nebo, and Bethany. We will visit and learn more about all 3 of these places tomorrow! The map also shows parts of Egypt and the city of Jerusalem.

Next, we visited a workshop to learn how artists create mosaics. First, the artists start with large chunks of stone in many colors. Then, the stones are broken into thousands of tiny pieces. Finally, each piece is glued into place. It is a very long process and the artists must be patient. Ilana even got to try making a mosaic by adding a few stones to a work in progress.

Build your vocabulary: What does cartography mean?

Visit Madaba Map locations: Bethany & Mt. Nebo!

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