The site of the Baptism, or Al-Maghtas 'Bethany across the Jordan' as stated in the Gospel of St. John, is located on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, 9 km north of the Dead Sea, where John the Baptist used to call for repentance and was baptized there, including the baptism of Christ, as indicated by On it is the writings of Byzantine and medieval historians, as well as archaeological excavations. The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “UNESCO” has included the baptism site of Jesus Christ “The Baptism” in Jordan, on the World Heritage List.
The baptism site includes two distinct areas:-
It has Tal al-Kharar, known as the hill of Mar Elias or the Prophet Elijah, where he moved from this area to heaven in a fiery chariot, as stated in the Bible. And secondly, the area of the churches of John the Baptist, near the Holy Jordan River. The place is characterized by churches, monasteries, caves, and Roman and Byzantine water pools, which were used by hermits at the time to grant baptism.
The site was reopened for pilgrims in the mid-1990s. Since most of the Christian churches in the world have adopted the Baptism site as the site of the baptism of Jesus, Jordan has agreed, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, to the request of these churches To build churches and pilgrimage houses for them in the place.
The Vatican had approved the Baptism Site as one of the approved Christian pilgrimage sites in Jordan in 2000, along with Mount Nebo, where the Prophet Moses saw the Holy Land. Jebel Mukawar, the site of the beheading of John the Baptist; The Church of Our Lady of the Mountain in the town of Anjara, which, according to tradition, Jesus and his mother passed through that town and rested in a cave in the Ajloun mountains; And the site of Mar Elias, the birthplace of the Old Testament prophet Elijah.