33 Items
Sergibleh
The C5th century church was very well preserved apart from on the south side, as the ruins were located at a short distance from modern dwellings. The only exception to this was the fact that the bema had been disturbed by looters.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Halaqa, Limestone Massif, Sergibleh, Syria
Dehes
Dehes is in the south of the Jebel Barisha and has been excavated by a French team since it was initially surveyed by Tchalenko. The C5th church in the village is generally very well preserved and has a bema, chancel screen and the altar stone still extant at the time of the site visit.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Altar, Architecture, Bema, C5th, Chancel Screen, Dehes, Jebel Barisha, Limestone Massif, Syria
Sinkhar
Sinkhar is located in a valley between Batuta and Sheikh Sulaiman and, at the time of the site visit, was only accessible by walking for some distance. The C4th church in the village was severely overgrown, meaning that only a well-preserved chapel to the south of the main church, that was added in the C6th, could be accessed and it was impossible to find any trace of the bema and other features recorded by Tchalenko in the 1950s.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C4th, C6th, Church, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Sinkhar, Syria
Brad Church of Julianos
Brad is on a high plateau in one of the more inaccessible areas of the Jebel Seman and was a large town in late antiquity, famous in hagiographical sources as the birthplace of St. Maroun. The Church of Julianos has been dated by inscriptions to 399-402 and is one of the largest churches in the region, with the remains of a large bema still visible and a side apse to the north and the west wall being the best preserved elements of the site at the time of visit. Much of the stone seemed to have been reused in the construction of local dwellings.
Type: Architecture
Tags: 399-402, Architecture, Bema, Brad, Church, Jebel Seman, Julianos, Limestone Massif, St. Maroun, Syria
Kimar
The modern village now surrounds the C5th church in Kimar, although a recently built house beside the site did not immediately threaten the ruins at the time of the site visit. The walls and bema were in relatively good condition, although nothing stood higher than around knee-height. At this site the bema had clear notches in the stone indicating that wooden seats and panels would have originally been attached to the stone base of the platform.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Seman, Kimar, Limestone Massif, Syria
Suganeh
The C4th church of Suganeh is located in the centre of the village and, on a visit in 1998, was surrounded by modern dwellings and at risk of being destroyed. At that time it was being used as a village rubbish dump and the stone was being taken for modern building projects. Only the apse, bema and a group of sarcophagi south of the apse were still extant at the time of the visit.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C4th, Church, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Suganeh, Syria
Jeradeh
The modern settlement of Jeradeh has developed to the side of the ancient village, meaning that in the 1990s the site had not been plundered for stone . The C5th church is heavily overgrown and the foliage makes it difficult to see all the church interior.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Zawiyeh, Jeradeh, Limestone Massif, Syria
Ruweiha Church of Bizzos
The C6th Church in Ruweiha is known by the name of its patron Bizzos. It is an exceptionally large building that has a wide arch span facilitated by the use of piers springing from cross-shaped bases, rather than the more usual arrangement of columns and capitals. In the 1990s it was well preserved, but several families lived in houses in the ruins of the structure. The mausoleum of the patron lies on the edge of the church compound.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, Bizzos, Church, Jebel Zawiyeh, Limestone Massif, Mausoleum, Pier, Ruweiha, Syria
Ruweiha C5th church
Ruweiha is unusual for being the only village that had two churches with a bema, however in this case the nave-platform seems to have been dismantled when the church was superseded by a new, larger church in the village. Only the south and east sides of the building are still extant, but these survive in good condition and show that this was a substantial church, even if the later building in the village was even more impressive.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Zawiyeh, Limestone Massif, Ruweiha, Syria
Baqirha C5th church
The C5th church at Baqirha possesses a bema and has so many outbuildings that it was erronously believed to be a monastery in the past. Today most of the walls have fallen and it is difficult to make out the floorplan of the building.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Baqirha, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Barisha, Limestone Massif, Syria