close up of mosaic map of the Holy Land

The oldest map of the Holy Land is actually a magnificent mosaic

Discovered in a remote Ottoman town in 1884, the Madaba Map is both a masterpiece of Byzantine design and a working map of Jerusalem and the sixth-century Middle East.

A detail of the Madaba Map reveals how its makers imagined the world from above. The large body of water is the Dead Sea, and the central walled city is Jerusalem.
ERICH LESSING / ALBUM
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