Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly sequence wherein NPR’s worldwide workforce shares moments from their lives and work all over the world.
It was a quiet day in Jordan’s capital, Amman. Town had simply endured practically two weeks of frequent civil protection sirens, saying missiles crossing Jordanian airspace throughout the Israel-Iran warfare in June.
Since a ceasefire was holding, I took a break from my submit coordinating Center East protection to go see some native sights. My colleague, correspondent Jane Arraf, prompt a number of highlights to go to, and I selected the closest one: the Amman Citadel.
I by no means imagined what a sacred historic place it might be.
Sitting atop one of many seven hills overlooking town, the location is like an archaeological mosaic the place fragments of paganism, Christianity and Islam from totally different eras and empires coexist. And I had the place nearly all to myself, besides for employees and only a few different guests quietly wandering the grounds.
One of many beautiful shows is that this colossal hand sitting beside ruins of an historic Roman temple, which date again to the second century. Researchers imagine the hand belonged to an enormous statue of Hercules. Close by are the stays of a Byzantine church and an Umayyad palace. Strolling these hallowed grounds, every monument incorporates its distinctive structure and symbolism, every brings its personal that means to the mosaic.
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