 The Madaba Mosaic Map still serves today as floor of the
Greek Orthodox parish church of St. George. The church,
located to the northwest of the city center, was built
in fact in 1896 A.D. over the remains of a Byzantine
church, whose dating is probably to be set at the end
of 6th or at the beginning of 7th century A.D.
The church was divided into a nave and three aisles
by two rows of columns, an arrangement that corresponds
only partially with the present one.
The mosaic panel enclosing the Map was originally
some 15.60 by 6 m, that is 94 square meters, of
which 25 are preserved, corresponding only to
about a quarter of the total. The map covers the entire area from the south
wall to the north wall of the church leaving only a little space for a frame,
of which no remain has been recovered.
 Many have already inquired about the meaning of such a map, depicted in mosaic, on the floor of a Christian building in a remote provincial town of the Roman Empire. Some have suggested that the map may have been useful to pilgrims, to help them peregrinate from one holy place to another. Some others point out that the map has been found not far from Mount Nebo. Thus it may represent the vision of Moses of the Promised Land, from the place of his death.
 Some scholars view the Holy Cty of Jerusalem as the center of all the composition, beeing also presently the most detailed map item. A new idea may also be presented here. The central portion of the map stood in front of the chancel of the sanctuary, there the mosaicist would place what was most important to him,. Topographic extent, as well as iconographic parallels suggest that this had to be the town of Madaba whit all the details of its streets, churches and shrines. Unfortunately this part of the mosaic is not preserved, but this very idea may help us to understand the pride of the people of ancient Madaba, in seeing their town as part of the Land originally promised to the Jewish people and now belonging, by the grace of God, to the Christians, as truly legitimate heirs. Moreover, in the same Land, great events of salvation beneficial to humankind, were accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ, as related in the New Testament. All of this may still not be enough to give sense to every detail of the map.
It is the commonly accepted view among scholars that the Madaba map depends heavily on Eusebius' gazetteer of biblical places, the Onomastikon. One might even take the view that the Madaba map is but a 'revised edition' of the Onomastikon, illustrated and brought up to date by the addition of churches and pilgrim places that in Eusebius' time did not exist, and by the juxtaposition of additional sources for areas not covered by Eusebius, e.g. a map of the Egyptian Delta or a road map.
 On the other hand, it is perhaps legitimate to ask ourselves, if the apparent dependence of the Madaba map on Eusebius may not be due to the fact that these two are the only extant monuments of biblical geography, or at least the only ones that present a complete view of the Holy Land in late antiquity. Most of the entries found in both can be traced directly to Scripture, often through the mediation of Josephus, and they may refer to a background of Jewish and early Christian interpretation of biblical geography. We know very little about the actual contents of such interpretation, or which form it may have taken, but we do know that pilgrims relied on local guides, and as pilgrimage became more and more common, itineraries, guidebooks and probably pilgrim maps began to be available. All this oral and written stream of information reflected the contemporary landscape of the Holy Land as seen through the eyes of local tradition.
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