Amman, October 22, 2016
The memorial to Moses on the summit of the famous Biblical Mount Nebo has again opened to pilgrims who wish to visit the site of the repose of the God-seer in the Holy Land, after the memorial was closed for restoration work for ten years, reports Sedmitza.ru.
The memorial to Moses, situated seven kilometers (c. 4.35 miles) from the city of Ma’daba on the summit of Mount Nebo, is considered to be one of the most important and visited pilgrimage sites in Jordan, and therefore its long-awaited reopening after serious restoration work is seen as a great event. There, on the very summit of the mountain which stands one kilometer (c. 0.62 miles) high, some thirty kilometers (c. 18.64 miles) from the city of Amman (in the Roman era known as “Philadelphia”), the capital of Jordan, there sits a monastery with views of the west bank of the River Jordan, Jericho and Jerusalem.
Today there is an active Franciscan monastery on Mount Nebo which was opened after archaeologists investigated and abandoned the local ruins back in the 1930s. Restoration began there in 2007 when it was discovered that the remains of the ancient basilica were cracking and crumbling away, unable to withstand the weight of the memorial.
