This week witnessed the conclusion of the fourth phase of restorations of the 2,000-year-old site, a rural Nabataean village that grew to a bustling town and a Roman military outpost, according to the Department of Antiquities (DoA).

The JD150,000-year-long project focused on the ruins known as the "Umayyad house", which features a tower and several rooms and staircases, the latest in a series of renovations on the ancient city, Nasser Khasawneh, DoA director in Mafraq, said.

"The most recent phase is part of steps we have taken over the last four years to renovate the site to protect it and present it to visitors," Khasawneh told The Jordan Times on Monday.

The most recent renovation work focused on several rooms in the Umayyad house, one of the more extensive buildings within the site and host to several extensive decorations, leading experts to believe it once served as the residence of a wealthy family.

According to Khasawneh, with a majority of restoration works concluded, the department's efforts will now be focused on providing services at Um Jimal to increase tourist flow.

Plans are in place to establish a restaurant or café near the ancient basalt city as well as a renovated visitor's centre with modern facilities and restrooms, he added.

"We are hoping that within the next year or so we will have the new visitor's centre and a restaurant facility in order to attract more visitors," he said.

The DoA official expressed hope that the new facilities will not only encourage tourists and tour agencies to visit the site, some 20km east of Mafraq, but create employment for residents in the area, considered one of the Kingdom's poverty pockets.

Originally a Nabataean village built in the 1st century AD, the town became a military outpost along Via Nova Traiana after it was incorporated into the Roman Empire, serving as series of fortifications defending Roman-occupied territory stretching to the borders of modern-day Saudi Arabia.

Byzantine churches were built on the site during the 5th and 6th centuries, while its stone barracks, water cisterns and administrative buildings were gradually converted back to a rural village under the Umayyad rule around the 7th century.

After an earthquake devastated the area in 749AD, the basalt fortifications were left abandoned for around 1,000 years.

At the turn of the 20th century, the site housed Druze families who resided in the ruins, some of which still stood over two storeys high, before the city fell into complete disrepair and obscurity.

In 2001, the DoA nominated Um Jimal to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

By Taylor Luck

© Jordan Times 2009

 

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