28 Items
Sheikh Sulaiman church dated 602
This church is located to the west of the village of Sheikh Sulaiman and an inscription dates its construction to 602, making it one of the youngest securely dated churches on the Limestone Massif
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, C7th, Church, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Sheikh Sulaiman, Syria
Dayr Seman north west monastery
This monastery is in a more ruined condition than its counterpart and stands apart from the rest of the village, with a view of the bottom of the triumphal way leading up to Qalat Seman.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Church, Dayr Seman, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Monastery, Pilgrimage, Qalat Seman, Syria
Dayr Seman south west monastery
This is one of two monastery complexes in Dayr Seman, which when it was visited and photographed in 1997 was in a very good state of preservation and partially inhabited by a Kurdish family. The Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) later evicted them, but it may now be reinhabited.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Church, Dayr Seman, Inscription, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Monastery, Pilgrimage, Qalat Seman, Syria, Syriac, Syriac Inscription
Qal'at Seman
Qal'at Seman is the site where Simeon Stylites the Elder stood on a pillar for 36 years. The hill is located to the north of Jebel Sheikh Barakat and the monumental complex was constructed on the orders of the Emperor after Simeon died in 459. It was one of the biggest churches in the world at the time it was built.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, C5th, Church, Jebel Seman, Jebel Sheikh Barakat, Limestone Massif, Martyrium, Pilgrimage, Pillar, Qalat Seman, Simeon Stylites, Stylite, Syria
Mushabbak
An almost perfectly preserved C5th basilica south of the road from Aleppo to Daret 'Azzeh, Mushabbak is a popular destination for pilgrims on their journey to Qalat Seman.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Aleppo, Architecture, C5th, Church, Daret 'Azzeh, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Mushabbak, Qalat Seman, Syria
Batuta
Batuta is on Jebel Seman and in 1997 was not connected to the road network. The church is very damaged on its northern side but the bema is still clearly visible.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Batuta, Bema, C4th, Church, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Syria
Burj Heidar
Burj Heidar is on Jebel Seman and was one of the sites that had changed the most since being visited by Tchalenko in the 1940s. The church had been incorporated into a smallholding and the arcades stood in a field, with only the side apse to the south still extant to the east. No evidence of the bema remained when these pictures were taken in 1997.
The slides were developed in Syria and scuffed in the process and the hazy quality of some of the black and white images is due to the fact that this site was reached late in the afternoon, which affected the light quality.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, Burj Heidar, C4th, Church, Jebel Seman, Limestone Massif, Syria
Dayr Tell Ada
Dayr Tell Ada stands on the southern slopes of Jebel Sheikh Barakat (the Mountain of the Old Man of Blessings) and plays a large role in the history of the Syrian Orthodox Church. It was mentioned by Theodoret and other chroniclers as the place where Simeon Stylites began his monastic career, before being expelled for the extreme feats of mortification that he insisted on undertaking. It was a 'dual house' for both Syriac and Greek speakers and had two abbots - one for each language - at the time of Theodoret.
It later became the home of St Jacob of Edessa, who died at Tell Ada in 708 having returned to pack up his fabled library when he moved home to Edessa.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Dayr Tell Ada, Edessa, Greek, Jebel Seman, Jebel Sheikh Barakat, Library, Limestone Massif, Monastery, Simeon Stylites, St. Jacob of Edessa, Syria, Syriac, Theodoret