Franciscan Custody at the Memorial of Moses

The Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo is open to the public amid festivities, after recent restoration. Believed by ancient tradition to be the site where Moses saw the Promised Land and died, a church and monastery is on top of this mountain facing Dead Sea. It has drawn Christian pilgrims throughout the centuries and is considered one of the most important pilgrimage, tourist, and archaeological sites in Jordan and the Holy Land.

Excavations led by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which acquired the area in 1932, have uncovered significant remains of an early basilica — built in 597 on fouth-century church foundation — and Byzantine mosaic pavements. However, a simple structure sheltering these important finds was crumbling and needed to be replaced to protect the treasures it housed.

The custodian of the Holy Land, Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, called the reopening of the sanctuary, “a gift for the present.”

St John Paul II visited Mount Nebo in March 2000 before starting his spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land with prayers in the basilica. Benedict XVI gave a speech there in 2009.

Mount Nebo is also an active Franciscan monastery and the headquarters of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute. It’s a popular setting for Christmas and Easter Masses. A new organ now graces the Memorial of Moses.

Visitors to Mount Nebo now find a church structure of limestone and pale wood housing more than 8,600 square feet of mosaics depicting a braided cross, flowers and fauna.

Artistic adviser Eugenio Fagiani said restoring magnificent Byzantine mosaics and building a safe shelter to protect them while honouring Moses were not the only miracles to take place.