Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Although the Reserve holds a diversity of plant life and is the home of a range of wild-life,
Basil was more interested in getting us to the village, which is located on a prominent knoll
halfway down a steep gorge.
There were great views over the valley and a small museum, but the primary focus of the
visit was a group of young women working on the production of silver jewellery for the
small shop attached to the operation. I suspect the prospect of some sales may have motiv-
ated Basil to stop here.
There were half a dozen women, with a supervisor hovering over their work. The way they
used the tools and machines would have attracted the ire of any Occupational Health and
Safety inspector. One girl was using a grinding cum polishing machine to polish the small
pieces of jewellery and her fingers were practically touching the wheel that was spinning
at high speed. Her protective gloves were lying on the bench unused. I wondered about the
accident rate.
We retraced our steps out of the gorge and proceeded along the King's Highway across a
very flat but fertile plain to Madaba.
The Madaba Map is part of a mosaic floor in the town's early Byzantine church of Saint
George. It is said to be the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy
Land, especially of Jerusalem. It dates from the 6
th
Century.
To get to the church we walked through the town past a lot of public works being performed
on road and footpaths. The church was interesting, but the mosaic somewhat disappoint-
ing. The mosaic was cordoned off, the lighting was poor and there was a continuous crowd
around the fenced off area making it difficult to get a considered perspective. On the other
hand, it was clearly a major discovery and deserving of its reputation.
It is estimated that the Map originally, measured 21 by 7 metres and contained over two
million pieces. Its current dimensions are 16 by 5 metres. The map depicts Jerusalem with
the Nea Church, which was dedicated on the 20
th
November, 542. As buildings erected in
Jerusalem after 570 are absent from the depiction, the date range of its creation is seen to
be between the yea542 and 570.
In 614, Madaba was conquered by the Persian empire. In the 8
th
Century AD, the Muslim
Umayyad rulers had some figural motifs removed from the mosaic. In 746, Madaba was
largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequently abandoned. The mosaic was redis-
