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Al Maghtas
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How it came to be
Al-Maghtas lies on the east bank of the Jordan River, 9 km north of the Dead Sea. It has two parts: Tell al-Kharrar, also called Elijah's Hill, and the remains of the churches of John the Baptist. Most Christian churches hold it to be where John baptised Jesus.
In the 5th century a monastery was built on the hill venerated as the place where Elijah rose to heaven, and from the 4th to the 15th century monks, hermits and pilgrims lived at or visited the site. Churches, chapels, hermit caves, a cross-shaped baptismal pool and water channels survive.
After the 1967 Six-Day War the river became a ceasefire line and the area was abandoned. Following the 1994 Israel–Jordan peace treaty, mines were cleared at the initiative of Prince Ghazi and excavation began. In 2000 John Paul II became the first pope to visit, and the site was inscribed in 2015.
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