JORDAN – The city of SALT nominated for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Jordan has recently sent the candidacy of the Salt site for inclusion in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites.
The city, which is about 30 km away from Amman, was once considered an important settlement in a strategic position on the trade route between the West and the Eastern Desert.
Over the centuries Salt underwent the domination of numerous civilizations, including Romans, Byzantines and Mamluks.
During the Ottoman period Salt had the greatest development, as the regional administrative base was established there, became a trading city, and was the residence of many wealthy merchants who built their homes by mixing local and Western styles. Typically these towering yellow limestone buildings feature domed roofs, inner courtyards, and the typical tall arched windows. When Amman then became the new capital of the Emirate of Transjordan, the decline of the city of Salt began, but these houses remain a witness to those prosperous times.
Salt is also considered a site of interest from a religious point of view. The city hosts, among others, the Tomb of Job, one of the first patriarchal figures in the Bible, and the shrine of the prophet Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, as well as the tombs of two sons of Jacob: Jad and Asher.
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