Operational Meeting Was Held on Building Site of Russian Pilgrims House on River Jordan

The place on the river Jordan, where St. John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ, is the main attraction for the thousands of tourists from all over the world. (In 2010 over 350.000 of pilgrims visited this sacred place.) The sacred place of the Baptism of Christ in Jordan is regarded as a place of an inter-religious dialogue. In due time the heads of a lot of confessions and religions visited this sacred place.

State leaders consider it an honor to go to the Baptism of Christ sacred place during their visits to Jordan. In due time Eltsin B.N., Putin V.V. and the Russian Federation President Medvedev D.A. (January 2011) visited the sacred place of the Baptism of Christ on the river Jordan.

King of Jordan Abdullah II gave to Russia 1 hectare of land on the sacred river Jordan next to the official place of the Baptism of Christ as a token of high respect for the Russian people and all the Orthodox in Russia.

The building of the Russian House of Pilgrims on the Holy Land on the river Jordan (the official ceremony of the Russian Pilgrims House foundation stone laying took place on 24th March 2008. See the article of 24/03/2008.) will lead to a considerable growth in number of pilgrims from Russia and further development of religious and cultural mutual relations between Jordan and Russia.

The Baptism of Christ Complex is being constructed by ‘StroytransGas’ plc. on the instructions of the Affairs Management Department of the Russian Federation President’s Administration. The Complex consists of a temple building with the living quarters (sixty double rooms), a refectory and a guests’ house. The pilgrims from Russia will be able to go to the Complex year-round.

On 5th March 2011 an enlarged operational meeting took place on the building site of the Russian House of Pilgrims on the river Jordan. The Russian-Jordanian Business Council (RJBC) Deputy Chairman, Chairman of the RJBC Commission for Tourism, Culture, Religion and Social Organizations Coordination Kononenko V.A., Head of a ‘StroytransGas’ plc.  representative office in Jordan — the company building the Russian House of Pilgrims on the river Jordan,  Opria A.Y.,  Representative of the Affairs Management Department of the Russian Federation President’s Administration Cherny I.E., Director of ‘StroytransGas’ plc. Maintenance Supply Department Shcheglov R.V., Head of ‘StroytransGas’ plc. Infrastructure and Housing Construction Department Barinov S.V., Vice-president of a company ‘Sadin Constructing Group’ Ahmed Salah — an Arab contracting organization, took part in the meeting.

At the meeting special attention was given to the matters concerning the keeping on the project construction schedule, the performance of the main construction works content and the quality of the works performance by the contracting organizations. Head of the project construction Opria A.Y. and RJBC Deputy Chairman Kononenko V.A. inspected personally the building site and once again focused the contracting organizations’ attention on the necessity of qualitative performance and timely completion of the construction and finishing works.

In the course of the operational meeting a new expected date (31st May 2011) of the completion of the Russian House of Pilgrims on the river Jordan construction was fixed.