By Taylor Luck
Um Al Rassas, a UNESCO heritage site and one of the lesser-known gems of the Kingdom’s diverse archaeological riches, will have a new look in 2009.

Some 50km from Amman and a short drive from the mosaic city of Madaba, years of excavations by various teams will be fully open to tourists under Um Al Rassas’ new visitors’ centre by spring 2009, according to Department of Antiquities Director Dr.Fawwaz Khraysheh.

“The visitors’ and interpretation centre at Um Al Rassas is 80 per cent complete and we expect it to open by the third quarter of next year,” Khraysheh told The Jordan Times in a recent interview, noting that the project’s design will help preserve the site while facilitating further tourist flow.

The facility, which is being funded by the European Union, includes a shelter with ramps suspended over the mosaic floors of the St. Stephen's Church complex, a visitors’ centre, footpaths and signage to guide visitors through the rich and diverse site.

Um Al Rassas was once a Roman military encampment which evolved into a prominent city during the fifth century known as Kestram Mefaa which utilised advanced agricultural techniques and featured several churches and fortresses.

Distinguished most notably for its Byzantine churches dating back to the sixth and seventh centuries, the ancient town was also home to numerous open and roofed water cisterns and the outlines of a Roman fort which still stand today.

The area was continually inhabited during Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods with Kestram Mefaa flourishing under Umayyad and Abbasid periods in the eighth century, according to excavations by the Franciscan Archaeological Institute, providing further historical evidence of peaceful interfaith coexistence at that time.

The centerpiece of Um Al Rassas is the Church of St. Stephen, which features a detailed mosaic floor depicting major cities of the region in ancient times including Jerusalem, Nablus, Gaza, Karak and Philadelphia (Amman) which will now be presented through a protective shelter and suspended pathways.

The surrounding town of Kestram Mefaa itself is now an intricate maze of walls and arches stretching for hundreds of meters providing visitors with a chance to immerse themselves in ancient times and a sense of the town’s importance.

The site even includes a 15-metre tower that has confounded experts by its lack of stairs, leading many to believe the tower was once inhabited by a stylite, Christian hermits who lived on top of pillars mimicking the habits of Simeon the Stylite who lived on top of a pillar for 37 years outside Aleppo.

Due to its archaeological and cultural significance, UNESCO named Um Al Rassas the Kingdom’s third World Heritage Site in 2004.

From the Jordan Times