Been to Qasr al-Yahud, or dreaming of it?
Join BucketList to rate it, put it on your bucket list, and see where your friends have been. It's free.
22,000+ places in 198 countries to rate and rank
Photo: Ori~ · Attribution · Wikimedia Commons
Baptism site, West Bank
Qasr al-Yahud, also known as Al-Maghtas, is the western section of the traditional site of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist on the Jordan River. It has also been traditionally identified with two episodes from the Hebrew Bible, as one of the possible points through which the Israelites have crossed the Jordan river as they reached the Promised Land, and as the site where prophet Elijah ascended to heaven. "Qasr al-Yahud" is actually an Arabic name given to the nearby Monastery of St John the Baptist, but is also being used for the West Bank section of the baptism site itself. The site is part of UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Palestine since 2015.
