Qasr al-Yahud

The Jordanian side uses the names Al-Maghtas, Bethany beyond the Jordan and Baptism(al) Site, while the western part is known as Qasr al-Yahud. The nearby Greek Orthodox Monastery of St John the Baptist has a castle-like appearance (thus qasr, "castle"), and tradition holds that the Israelites crossed the river at this spot (thus al-Yahud, "of the Jews").{{cite web |title= Survey of Western Palestine, sheet 15 |publisher=Palestine Exploration Fund |url= http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~240993~5512445:Composite--Map-of-Western-Palestine |access-date=23 March 2015}}{{cite web |url= http://www.jp-newsgate.net/en/2013/08/16/2854 |title= The Holy Monastery of St John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan River/Qasr-el-Yahud |publisher= The [Greek Orthodox] Patriarchate of Jerusalem – Official News Gate |author= Theodosios Mitropoulos, architect |quote= The Holy Monastery of St John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan River/Qasr-el-Yahud […] The perimeter walls, specifically their uppermost portion, terminate at battlements, which lend the monument the form of a Medieval castle. This is in all likelihood why its Arab name is Qasr al-Yahud [The castle of the Jews] |access-date= 23 March 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150402155600/http://www.jp-newsgate.net/en/2013/08/16/2854 |archive-date= 2 April 2015 |url-status= dead }}{{cite book |author1= Othmar Keel |author2= Max Küchler |author3= Christoph Uehlinger |year=1992 |title= Orte und Landschaften der Bibel, Volume 2 |publisher= Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |page=528 |isbn= 9783525501672 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=j3jsKqzuP5YC&pg=PA527 |access-date=23 March 2015 }} The monastery is known in Arabic both as Deir Mr Yuhanna, lit. "Monastery of Saint John", and Qasr el-Yahud.

It is variously spelled as Kasser or Qasser, al- or el-, Yahud or Yehud etc.

Qasr al-Yahud is located in the West Bank, a little southeast from Jericho, and is part of the Jericho Governorate{{cite news |title=In rivalry over Jesus' baptism site, UNESCO backs Jordan over West Bank, as debate goes on |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/in-rivalry-over-jesus-baptism-site-unesco-backs-jordan-over-west-bank-as-debate-goes-on/ |work=Fox News World |location=Al-Maghtas, Jordan |access-date=August 1, 2017}} Since the Six-Day War in 1967, it has been under Israeli occupation, and the site and facilities are currently administered by the Israeli Civil Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as part of a national park.

{{main|Al-Maghtas}}

As part of the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus, it has been a pilgrimage site since late antiquity.

The 6th-century Madaba Map places Bethabara ("house of the ford", "place of crossing"), a name used by some versions of the New Testament, on the west bank of the Jordan (see Al-Maghtas#Bethabara).

Qasr al-Yahud is close to the ancient road and river ford connecting Jerusalem, via Jericho, to several Transjordanian biblical sites such as Madaba, Mount Nebo and the King's Highway.

According to Procopius (writing c. 560 CE), Emperor Justinian I had a cistern constructed here.Procopius, 1888, p. [https://archive.org/details/cu31924028534224/page/n176/mode/1up 149]: "in the monastery of St. John beside the Jordan, a cistern" In 1883 it was described as "still visible, in almost perfect condition".Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWPIII, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/177/mode/1up 177]

According to Theoderic (c. 1172), the Templars had built a castle next to the Greek monastery of St John and the Baptism site, of which no trace has been found.{{cite book | last= Pringle |first= D.|author-link=Denys Pringle |chapter= Templar Castles on the Road to the Jordan |page= 152 |editor-last= Barber |editor-first= M. |editor-link= Malcolm Barber |title= The Military Orders Volume I: Fighting for the Faith and Caring for the Sick |publisher= Routledge |year= 2017 |orig-year= 1994 |isbn= 9781351542593 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5zkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA152 |access-date= 24 November 2021}} The Templars, together with the Hospitallers, had the mission of protecting the pilgrims who came to the Holy Land in the time of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, and this castle was part of a chain of Templar fortifications along the pilgrimage route down to the Jordan, which also included the castle of Maldoim halfway between Jerusalem and the river, and the fortified top of Mount Quarantana above Jericho.

File:Jordanian Christian women visiting Al-Maghtas, Jordan River, 1913 (cropped) (cropped).jpg

The west side of the traditional baptism site became again a target for mass pilgrimage toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.{{cite news|last= Frantzman |first= Seth J. |title= Region's baptism sites a bridge completing the Holy Land pilgrimage|url= https://www.jpost.com/magazine/a-river-runs-through-it-411987|access-date=2022-06-18|newspaper= The Jerusalem Post |date=2015-08-13}} Later in the 20th century, a large number of churches and monasteries were built between the old Greek Orthodox Monastery of St John the Baptist and the river, an area that became known as the "Land of the Monasteries". It comprised Catholic (Franciscan), Greek, Ethiopian Orthodox, Syriac, Russian, Romanian, and Coptic churches.{{cite news |last= Anshel |first= Pfeffer |date= 11 April 2020 |title= Jesus's baptism site is cleared of Israeli mines |url= https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/jesuss-baptism-site-is-cleared-of-israeli-mines-0mz367pcv |newspaper= The Times |access-date=18 April 2020}}{{cite news |first= Melanie |last= Lidman |date=8 January 2019 |title= Effort removes thousands of landmines from site of Jesus' baptism |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/effort-removes-thousands-mines-site-jesus-baptism |access-date= 18 April 2020}}

The site was closed in 1967 during the Six-Day War. The restoration project was approved before the 2000 millennium celebrations but was delayed due to the Second Intifada and flooding in the region in 2003. In 2000, Pope John Paul II held a private worship at the site.

The modern site reopened in 2011.{{cite news |last= Levinson |first= Chaïm |date= July 25, 2011 |title= Jesus' baptismal site in Jordan Valley reopens to pilgrims |url= https://www.haaretz.com/2011-07-25/ty-article/jesus-baptismal-site-in-jordan-valley-reopens-to-pilgrims/0000017f-e5c8-d62c-a1ff-fdfb2da00000 |work= Haaretz |access-date= 1 August 2017}} Qasr al-Yahud is administered by the Israeli Civil Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. In 2019, the area near the site was demined by the HALO Trust.{{cite news|last=Lidman|first=Melanie|title= 900 landmines detonated in Qasr al Yahud on the Jordan River|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/900-landmines-detonated-in-qasr-al-yahud-on-the-jordan-river/|access-date=2022-06-18|newspaper= The Times Of Israel |date= 2019-05-27}}

File:Baptism at Kaser el yahud2015-7.jpg|Baptism at Qasr al-Yahud

File:Jericho river baptism site.jpg|alt=Facilities at Qasr al-Yahud and Greek Orthodox church on the east bank, already in Jordan|Facilities at Qasr al-Yahud and Greek Orthodox church in Jordan, across the border

File:KasserAlYahud4.jpg|Greek Orthodox church on the Jordanian side

• Aenon
• Bethabara / Bethany Beyond the Jordan / Al-Maghtas
• Mandaeism
• Masbuta
• New Testament places associated with Jesus

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=3}} (inscriptions and several graphitæ at, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/181/mode/1up 181], [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/218/mode/1up 218]; general description, [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/217/mode/1up 217])
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=http://archive.org/details/descriptionsam01gu|volume=2: Samarie, pt. 1|year=1874|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}} (in 1870: pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptionsam01gu#page/111/mode/1up 111]-[https://archive.org/stream/descriptionsam01gu#page/116/mode/1up 116])
• {{cite journal |author1= Marti, Karl |author2= Schick, C |author2-link= Conrad Schick |title= Mitteilungen von Bauart C. Schick in Jerusalem über die alten Lauren und Klöster in der Wüste Juda. |journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins |volume= 3 |year= 1880 |pages= 1–43 |url= https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde03deut}} (Marti and Schick, 1880, p. [https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftdesde03deut/page/n52/mode/1up?view=theater 15])
• {{cite book |last= Noort |first= Ed |chapter= Βεθαβαρα Τò Του̑ Άγίου 'Ιωάννου Του̑ Βαπτίσματος Remarks About Storied Places at the Jordan, John the Baptist and the Madaba Mosaic Map |pages= 221–241 |editor-last= García Martínez |editor-first= Florentino |editor-link= Florentino García Martínez |editor-last2=Luttikhuizen |editor-first2= Gerard P. |editor2-link=Gerard Luttikhuizen |title= Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome: Studies in Ancient Cultural Interaction in Honour of A. Hilhorst |publisher=Brill |series= Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism |year= 2004 |isbn= 9789047402794 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VMtKEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA232 |access-date= 24 November 2021}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book|author=Procopius|author-link=Procopius|year=1888|title=Of the buildings of Justinian|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028534224 |publisher=Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society}}
• {{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|author-link1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|author-link2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=http://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|location=Boston|publisher=Crocker & Brewster}}
• Volume 2, p. [https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearc00smitgoog/page/n279/mode/1up 257]
• Volume 3, 2nd appendix, p. [http://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/122/mode/1up 122]

{{Refend}}

• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 18: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8380 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.18.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160817015416/http://www.parks.org.il/sites/English/ParksAndReserves/baptismalSiteontheJordanRiverQasralYahud/Pages/default.aspx Qasr al-Yahud, Israel's Nature and Parks Authority]

{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|31|50|18|N|35|32|21|E|region:IL_type:landmark_source:kolossus-cswiki|display=title}}

Category:Baptism

Category:Christian pilgrimages

Category:Jordan River

Category:Megilot Regional Council

Category:Tourism in Palestine