The place where many believe that Jesus Christ himself was baptized has just been reopened to the public for the first time in fifty years.

Churches in the “land of the monasteries” in the Jericho-area wilderness had been closed since the Six Day War in 1967 because of thousands of landmines in the area. These landmines have since been cleared, allowing the site to reopen.

Known as Qaser al-Yahud, the site is located on the western bank of the River Jordan, and it is the third holiest site in the Christian world behind the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The site is believed to be the place where John the Baptist baptized Christ.

The site includes eight church compounds, seven of which are Eastern Orthodox Churches and with the eighth one being Roman Catholic Church. Three of the churches have been reopened, but only to those with special access rights at the moment because of the continued risk of land mines.

Workers have been trying to clear the land mines around this site since March, and Defense Ministry officials explained that they are expecting to find another three thousand targets that include anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines, and other explosive remnants of war.

Marcel Aviv, the head of the Mine Action Authority said that the efforts to clear the site of land mines should be done by the end of 2019 as challenging and complex as the job is. Once the project is finished, officials plan to return the plots to the various church denominations and allow visits.

“The Halo Trust has reached a pivotal point in our work to clear the baptism site of landmines and other remnants of war,” said the charity’s CEO James Cowan said in a statement, adding that, “we have completed clearance of the Ethiopian, Greek and Franciscan churches.”

See more of this holy site in the video below!