Khirbet al Mukhayat

Khirbet al Mukhayat

Khirbet al Mukhayat is roughly between Madaba and Mount Nebo on a side road; it was originally the village near to the large Byzantine monastery of which the present Mount Nebo church is part of the basilica. The church is shown on the map as "Siyagha". If you are coming from Madaba you should turn to the left at al Faisaliya (named after Sheikh Faisal bin Jazi).

The Madaba Mosaic Map

It is a tiny place nowadays, not even to be called a hamlet, and the road at the end is very rough and exposed which discourages any tourist coaches.It turns into a track before it arrives at the top of the hill at site of the"Martyrs' Church" of Saints Lot and Procupius where there are a couple of beautiful mosaics. In the valley below there are the remains of several other churches. The late, much regretted Father Picirillo had plans for their restoration; I am afraid this is not likely to happen any time soon now.

The remains of the chapel might be locked: the guardian lives in a small house alongside and will probably arrive in a hurry when he hears a car. If not, it is perfectly correct to knock and ask if you can visit.

One of the mosaics was placed above the other one which was completely covered and unknown until the newer one was removed for restoring. The figures on the older mosaic have thus escaped the iconoclasts. These mosaics are very attractive.

Here you have the four best known mosaics from Khirbet al Mukhayat : On the left the one from the Church of Saint Lot and St Procupius, beside it the one from Baptistry; the two on the right are from the Church of Preacher John. You will see that first three are of generally similar styles. The later one from the Church of Preacher John is quite different.

People looking for something out of the way, can't do better than to spend half an hour at this site. It is seldom visited by tourists and gives you an idea of the landscape south of Madaba stretching to the canyon country and to Wadi Mujib. It is stark and beautiful, and usually very windy! People who know France might be reminded of the Caussse country there.









  The Mosaic Map of Madaba An Introductory Guide (Palestina Antiqua)