The 35th annual Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts begins in the ancient Jordanian city. The 11-day extravaganza features performances by Jordanian, Arab and international artists.
Though tourists flock to the Jordanian city year-round, Jerash experiences a surge in its population during the festival, attracting tens of thousands of visitors.
The Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts constitutes a unique cultural, social, economic, and tourist phenomenon with its national, Arab and global dimensions.
This year’s festival bears the slogan “Jerash: Decorated with Joy”. The event witnessed the participation of more than 70 Jordanian and Arab artists.
The festival features folklore dances by local and international groups, ballet, concerts, plays, opera, popular singers.
The festival will also include exhibitions of productions of local community and women societies such as handicrafts and local foodstuff, events for poetry recitals by a number of Jordanian and Arab poets, and a modern art symposium taking place in the main colonnaded street of the site.
The festival was founded in 1981 by then Queen Noor Al Hussein and is among the biggest cultural events in the Middle East and its bill often features some of the most recognizable names in Arabic pop.
Among Jordan’s most visited attractions, Jerash has some of the world’s best-preserved Greco-Roman architecture, earning it the nickname Pompeii of the East. The Roman City of Jerash, situated in the foothills of the mountain of Gilead, ancient city is reminiscent of the Roman Empire.
