Monks and Mosaics (Umm ar Rasas)
You’d expect that UNESCO World Heritage sites would be well known. Most are, for example Petra here in Jordan, but there are many that fall through the cracks and never seem to get much attention. The criteria for declaring a site to be so are quite strict, it can’t be just any old ruin, but somewhere that is unique and valuable. Umm ar-Rasas is one of these. It is a place so down the list though that there has been virtually no excavation at all apart from one (obviously) important part we’ll come to later. The rest of the site is abandoned, free to be walked all over, has no information signs or barriers, stretches for acres and acres and is a treasure of hidden information that would benefit from a protracted archaeological dig to bring out the best of it.
So what it is special for? As per the title, monks and mosaics.
Initially the site was a Roman military camp but from the 5th century grew into a large town. There are remains from the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic period stretching roughly from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD. There are thought to be about sixteen churches, one especially with a mosaic floor that is the largest in Jordan.
Also there are two towers, one in my photos (couldn’t find the other one) understood to be used by the Stylites. These were/are ascetic monks who spent time atop a column or tower, isolated from all others, in deep contemplation – hopefully of more than their navel.
At the entrance there is a rather large and new visitor’s centre with a small gift shop but when I was there it was all unmanned and the doorkeeper just pointed to the ruins and said “free”, so I walked in. There are a couple of well laid out tracks leading around the periphery of the site and one to the tower about a km away.
As I walked I saw first a ruined building just looking the same as it did for the last few hundreds of years –
You’d expect that UNESCO World Heritage sites would be well known. Most are, for example Petra here in Jordan, but there are many that fall through the cracks and never seem to get much attention. The criteria for declaring a site to be so are quite strict, it can’t be just any old ruin, but somewhere that is unique and valuable. Umm ar-Rasas is one of these. It is a place so down the list though that there has been virtually no excavation at all apart from one (obviously) important part we’ll come to later. The rest of the site is abandoned, free to be walked all over, has no information signs or barriers, stretches for acres and acres and is a treasure of hidden information that would benefit from a protracted archaeological dig to bring out the best of it.
So what it is special for? As per the title, monks and mosaics.
Initially the site was a Roman military camp but from the 5th century grew into a large town. There are remains from the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic period stretching roughly from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD. There are thought to be about sixteen churches, one especially with a mosaic floor that is the largest in Jordan.
Also there are two towers, one in my photos (couldn’t find the other one) understood to be used by the Stylites. These were/are ascetic monks who spent time atop a column or tower, isolated from all others, in deep contemplation – hopefully of more than their navel.
At the entrance there is a rather large and new visitor’s centre with a small gift shop but when I was there it was all unmanned and the doorkeeper just pointed to the ruins and said “free”, so I walked in. There are a couple of well laid out tracks leading around the periphery of the site and one to the tower about a km away.
As I walked I saw first a ruined building just looking the same as it did for the last few hundreds of years –
Notice what looks like a milling wheel on its edge?
Closer view -
Yep, it’s a door. Rolled in and out of the recess when necessary. Before you ask, no, there probably was very little wood around here. There isn’t now and I expect there hasn’t been for millennia.
The other side –
Just outside is what I’d say is a water tank cut into the rock –
A view as I walk away. Nice big solid stones. Must have took some effort to cut and construct it –
Here’s initially where I’m heading for –
A bit closer and then closer still –
There is a small hole cut in the side for access. However, the mystery is that the opening leads to nothing. It is blocked about half a metre above by large stones looking very much like they were part of the design. It is said that there are actually no steps inside to the top. The two questions I have are how did the monk get to the top then and how on earth, when this was built, did they build it? We can say they might have had rudimentary cranes or used scaffolding or a block and tackle, or even as supposedly as the pyramids were built in making earthen ramps. Your guess is as good as mine. It is open to conjecture –
Anyway, just nearby was another structure. A church? No idea –
Inside you can see the support arches and again, because there is little wood, the slabs of stone making up the ceiling/roof –
Nearby are more water tanks and general ruins –
Two very pretty girls accompanied me and one very pretty woman. Here are the girls who I warned to keep away from the cracked side –
On walking back to the main site I came to a large covered area –
At the side were numerous other ruins –
But once inside this was the main area of the Church of St Stephen, built in 785 AD. I’ll show you some photos of the building and mosaics but I’m sure there are far better ones out there on the internet.
On the central panel, hunting and fishing scenes are depicted, while another panel illustrates the most important cities of the region including Philadelphia (Amman), Madaba, Esbounta (Heshbon), Belemounta (Ma'an), Areopolis (Ar-Rabba), Charac Moaba (Karak), Jerusalem, Nablus, Caesarea, and Gaza. The frame of the mosaic is especially decorative. Six mosaic masters signed the work: Staurachios from Esbus, Euremios, Elias, Constantinus, Germanus, and Abdela. It overlays another, damaged, mosaic floor of the earlier (587) Church of Bishop Sergius. Another four churches were excavated nearby with traces of mosaic decoration.
There has been quite obvious repair work done where they have infilled some gaps with other mosaic tiles just for preservation -
As we go outside again we see numerous other ruins and building of interest. If I only knew what they were. No doubt more churches but many dwellings as well –
The scale of the place is amazing. There are acres and acres of ruins as yet mostly unexplored, semi-buried and catalogued –
I made my way out with a thought of returning to explore when the weather was a little better (up there it was just 14 degrees and a strong cold wind) and I need also to search around for more information on the place. Initially it does seem a little forgotten.