Jordan: Umm ar-Rasas – Mosaics at St Stephen’s Church
One of the most stunning buildings unearthed at Umm ar-Rasas was the Byzantine St. Stephen’s Church with the largest mosaics floor ever discovered. The mosaics are very elaborate and detailed and the scenes are actually dated clearly to 756-785 AD. The mosaics depict various cities of the Jordan Valley of that time, including Philadelphia (Amman), Madaba, Caesarea, Jerusalem, Nablus, and many others. Six different mosaic masters signed their works. The central panels of the mosaic floor in the main hall is especially stunning, with various agricultural and hunting themes and the frame with different cities and architecture around them. And again – we had the entire mosaic – the world’s largest – just to ourselves.
