If you walk at night, you step on mud and crap, a Greek saying goes. It refers to the known unknown that awaits you just around the corner.
So, let me walk you through the known to every foreigner in Amman Abdoun. First, there was nothing. Then Christians created The Orthodox Club for the sake of every bored expat, looking for a game of tennis. Or it wasn't how the story goes. However, then The British Club and all the rest came. But, apparently before The Orthodox Club was created there was some unknown medieval christian site.
That's right. Let's take a look at it! Take your car to Abdoun Circle. Now leave it and head down the street towards Taj mall taking the left side of the road. After a couple hundred of meters comes another, smaller circle. Then, right after it, on your left side there is a small green spot with some trees. Go there.
On first sight you'll notice some old stone structure. It's clear that excavation and conservation were done on it. By whom, or when it happened is unknown to me.
Until I find this out (or you suggest me the answer in your comments below), let's make some preliminary remarks. It's built on a hill's southern slope. The excavated site spans some 80 to 100 square meters.
It has entrances on at least two of its sides.
One of them bears a cross, shaped in what is known in the heraldry as a croix pattee. Back at the time it was used both by Templars and Teutonic Knights. In any case, it is been associated with the Crusades, especially when seen in Jordan and Palestine.
Now, this cross may seem like a clue, but don't rush to awaken in your mind the sight of handsome knights, chinking their armors. The place clearly lacks any military purpose. It bears neither curtain walls nor towers or any other sign of fortification at all.
Instead, it has a water collection and distribution system.
Here for example you can see the hole in the middle of what seems to be an open court with cobble pavement, made in opus rectangulatum. Under the hole there is a huge water tank with a ceiling, which reminds me of the Byzantine cisterns in Constantinople.
Once upon a time, when you entered the court, you could take your horse to drink water from the fountain, visible on this picture:
It takes its water from the tanks, using a system of pipes, running through the walls. Just like the ones you've seen in Petra:
Now, I suppose there wasn't any mechanical way to make the water climb the distance, separating the tank from the fountain. That's why you have to take the few steps leading to the well, just next to the fountain, and pump some water into the pipelines, my lord:
Once you fulfill your duty to the animal, you can proceed to the main mission of your visit. Let me introduce you to the mill:
Now, whether it used wind, water or animal force to make the millstone move back and forward is unknown to me. Whatever the force behind it, it seems that our Crusade structure is all about Sancho Panza rather than Don Quixote.
And still, it's worth visiting, not least for the fact that such a cute surprise lies in such a boring newly built neighborhood. Oh, and it's not on your Lonely Planet guide! Cheers!
So, let me walk you through the known to every foreigner in Amman Abdoun. First, there was nothing. Then Christians created The Orthodox Club for the sake of every bored expat, looking for a game of tennis. Or it wasn't how the story goes. However, then The British Club and all the rest came. But, apparently before The Orthodox Club was created there was some unknown medieval christian site.
That's right. Let's take a look at it! Take your car to Abdoun Circle. Now leave it and head down the street towards Taj mall taking the left side of the road. After a couple hundred of meters comes another, smaller circle. Then, right after it, on your left side there is a small green spot with some trees. Go there.
Until I find this out (or you suggest me the answer in your comments below), let's make some preliminary remarks. It's built on a hill's southern slope. The excavated site spans some 80 to 100 square meters.
It has entrances on at least two of its sides.
Now, this cross may seem like a clue, but don't rush to awaken in your mind the sight of handsome knights, chinking their armors. The place clearly lacks any military purpose. It bears neither curtain walls nor towers or any other sign of fortification at all.
Instead, it has a water collection and distribution system.
Once upon a time, when you entered the court, you could take your horse to drink water from the fountain, visible on this picture:
It takes its water from the tanks, using a system of pipes, running through the walls. Just like the ones you've seen in Petra:
Now, I suppose there wasn't any mechanical way to make the water climb the distance, separating the tank from the fountain. That's why you have to take the few steps leading to the well, just next to the fountain, and pump some water into the pipelines, my lord:
Once you fulfill your duty to the animal, you can proceed to the main mission of your visit. Let me introduce you to the mill:
Now, whether it used wind, water or animal force to make the millstone move back and forward is unknown to me. Whatever the force behind it, it seems that our Crusade structure is all about Sancho Panza rather than Don Quixote.
And still, it's worth visiting, not least for the fact that such a cute surprise lies in such a boring newly built neighborhood. Oh, and it's not on your Lonely Planet guide! Cheers!