Surrounding the museum are the comprehensive ruins of an Ottoman village dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Two houses, Beit Malkawi (now used as an office for archaeological groups) and the nearby Beit Heshboni, are still intact. An Ottoman mosque and the remains of a girls’ school are also worth a cursory visit if you choose to amble around the derelict lanes. The village was inhabited until the 1980s, when the residents were evicted to allow archaeological excavations at Gadara.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
22.49 MILES
Dominating the Old City’s skyline is the lantern-topped cupola of this Franciscan-run Roman Catholic basilica, an audacious modernist structure that’s…
14.93 MILES
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17.11 MILES
Since at least the 4th century, this landscaped hillside is believed to be where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), whose opening…
15.84 MILES
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22.94 MILES
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28.58 MILES
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19.69 MILES
Both casual strollers and experienced hikers – especially those who aren’t averse to getting wet – will find plenty to engage and challenge them in…
28.83 MILES
Whatever the light and whatever the weather, the forum, with its organ-pipe columns arranged around an unusual oval-shaped plaza, is always breathtaking…
Nearby Umm Qais attractions
0.03 MILES
Housed in Beit Russan, the former residence of an Ottoman governor, this modest museum is set around an elegant and tranquil courtyard of fig trees. The…
0.03 MILES
This small mosque, no longer consecrated, is at the heart of the old Ottoman village of Umm Qais.
0.04 MILES
In the northwestern corner of Jordan, in the hills above the Jordan Valley, are the ruins of the Decapolis city of Gadara (now called Umm Qais). The site…
0.05 MILES
The North Theatre is overgrown and missing much of its original black-basalt stones, which were recycled by villagers in other constructions, but it's…
0.09 MILES
Entering Umm Qais from the south, the first structure of interest is the well-restored and brooding West Theatre. Constructed from black basalt, it once…
0.11 MILES
A bit of imagination is needed to reconstruct the colonnaded courtyard of the Basilica Terrace, the western section of which housed a row of shops. The…
0.13 MILES
The thick stone doors of this Roman tomb outside the main archaeological area still swing on ancient hinges. Nearby are the less notable tombs of Germani…
0.14 MILES
The shells of a row of shops remain in the western section of what was once the colonnaded courtyard of the Basilica Terrace.