Nativity token (BM 1973,0501.5)

Type: Portable Object
Tags: C5th-C6th, Christ, Crescent Moon, Late Antique, Manger, Nativity, Ox and Ass, Pilgrimage Object, Portable Object, Star, Terracotta, Token, Virgin Mary

Nativity token (BM 1973,0501.4)

Type: Portable Object
Tags: C5th-C6th, Christ, Crescent Moon, Late Antique, Manger, Nativity, Ox and Ass, Pilgrimage Object, Portable Object, Star, Token, Virgin Mary

Annunciation token (BM 1973,0501.3)

Type: Portable Object
Tags: Angel Gabriel, Annunciation, C5th-C6th, Late Antique, Pilgrimage Object, Portable Object, Terracotta, Token, Virgin Mary, Wool & Basket

Annunciation token (BM 1973,0501.2)

Type: Portable Object
Tags: Angel Gabriel, Annunciation, C5th-C6th, Cross, Late Antique, Pilgrimage Object, Portable Object, Terracotta, Token, Virgin Mary, Wool & Basket

Annunciation token (BM 1973,0501.1)

Type: Portable Object
Tags: Angel Gabriel, Annunciation, Cross, Late Antique, Pilgrimage Object, Portable Object, Terracotta, Token, Virgin Mary, Wool & Basket

Zegaani

At Zegaani in Kakheti there is a complex of three early churches. The fifth-century church of St. Marina is exceptionally small and its nearest comparable building in terms of design seems to be the tiny church of St. Nino in Samtavro, Mtskheta. The interior of the space is richly frescoed with an (unpublished) sixteenth to seventeenth century fresco cycle, that is currently open to the elements given the lack of windows and doors on the church. There is a simple, single naved church dedicated to the Archangels of an inter determinate date and a large three-church basilica dedicated to the Virgin and of an architectural type very similar to the basilica to the north of the valley at Nekresi. Like the Nekresi basilica, this church is believed to date to the sixth to seventh century. This basilica was in the process of being resorted at the time of the visit as the site was being re-established as a working monastery.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Archangels, Basilica, C16th-C17th, C5th, C6th-C7th, Church, Fresco, Georgia, Kakheti, Monastery, St. Marina, Three Church Basilica, Triple Basilica, Virgin Mary, Zegaani

The Annunciation

The Annunciation was painted at the top of the triumphal arch with the Angel Gabriel north of the window, the Virgin Mary to the south and Christ Emmanuel in a mandorla above. Sadly most of this scene was stolen overnight in 1986 whilst volunteers were restoring the monastery.

Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Angel, Annunciation, Chris, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Emmanuel, Fresco, Gabriel, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria, Theft, Virgin Mary

The Last Judgement

The west wall of the church is the most well preserved of all the frescoes in the cycle and shows the Last Judgement. The left hand side (blue background) shows the elect ranked from the bottom as: Syrian Orthodox monks and nuns (identifieable by their monastic hoods embroidered with 13 crosses) and St. Peter, the Church Fathers and other saints and biblical figures, the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and the Virgin Mary cradling the souls of the saved and above both sides the Apostles on either side of the Hetoimasia (Instruments of the Passion) with a pair of angels flanking the small window at the very top.

On the right hand side are the damned: fornicators, sinners such as usurers and murderers, foreign priests (Jews and Zoroastrians?), Muslims and at the top those Christians who are in doctrinal error - in this case those upholding the Council of Chalcedon.

In the centre Adam and Eve sit above two angels holding the scales of judgement and a saint or a devil receive the soul according to which side the scales fall on.

Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, Abraham, Adam, An Nabk, Angel, Apostles, Chalcedon, Church, Church Council, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Devil, Eve, Fresco, Hetoimasia, Isaac, Jacob, Jews, Last Judgement, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Monk, Muslims, Nun, St. Peter, Syria, Syrian Orthodox, Virgin Mary, Zoroastrian

Apse frescoes of the Virgin Blachernitissa with the Fathers of the Church

The apse depicts the Virgin Blachernitissa in the posture of an orant flanked by the Fathers of the Church, including St. Cyril, St. Basil, St. Athanasius, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. James with the names of two other saints missing. The semi-dome would have held a Pantocrator on the 1207/08 layer, but the traces of the earlier layer suggest that it once held the symbols of the four evangelists.

Type: Painting
Tags: 1207/08, An Nabk, Church, Church Fathers, Deir Mar Musa, Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fresco, Immanuel, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria, Virgin Mary

Saydnaya Convent of the Virgin

Saydnaya means "Our Lady" and the town has evidence of very early Christian occupation. Dominating the settlement is the vast Rum (Arabic speaking Greek Orthodox) Orthodox convent where the sisters also care for orphaned girls. The convent has been expanded over the centuries, but its origins are believed to be C6th. It is most famous for its icon of the Virgin which is believed to have been painted from life by St. Luke and which is believed to help women praying for fertility.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Arab Orthodox, Architecture, Church, Convent, Monastery, Qalamoun, Rum Orthodox, Saydnaya, Syria, Virgin Mary