The Theotokos Chapel

During the first decade of the 7th century, the western door to the baptistery walled up, three rooms of the monastery destroyed, and the floor leveled with the rest of the basilica. This provided the basis and foundation for building the Theotokos (Mother of God) chapel.


This chapel had it's own apse and divided by a railing into two distinct rooms. The floor decoration received special attention with rich geometric multicolor designs encompassing pictures of flowers, animals as well as a ciborium above an altar flanked by two bulls and gazelles.


While the sanctuary was undergoing various stages of architectural development, a parallel series of improvements and changes were taking place in the near monastery. From it's primitive nucleus of cells discovered by the archaeologists just outside the basilica on the northern side of the mountain, the complex gradually expanded into a monastic community of a respectable size in that monastic Byzantine world.


The restoration work preserved for future generations this extraordinary Monument of the Faith and brought new life to a sanctuary built in ancient times to honor Moses, the Prophet and man of God. Since September 4, 1976, the annual feast of Moses celebrated and the Christian community join with the Franciscan Fathers in this solemnity.


The Italian artist, Giovanni Fantoni, credited with designing the metal decorations inside the sanctuary as well as the Serpentine Cross (The Brazen Serpent Monument) on the exterior. These are symbolic of the bronze serpent taken by Moses (pbuh) into the desert, and the cross upon which Jesus (pbuh) was crucified.

About 1 km east of Mount Nebo, you can see the spring of Moses, mentioned by Egeria, Peter the Iberian, and Theodosius. In the springtime, this area dotted by Eucalyptus trees, which grow close to two churches built in the 6th century, with enchanting mosaics: the churches of Deacon Thomas and Kayanos which adorned with another mosaic pavement in the seventh Century. The churches destroyed by a powerful earthquake which hit the region in AD 749.

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Mount Nebo Guide: The Old Diaconicon Baptistery | The 5th-7th Century Basilica | The New Diaconicon | The Theotokos Chapel