- Collection: The Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project (DMEAP)
98 Items
View of the excavated church looking north
This shows the majority of the area of what had been the 1938 church and reveals the stone foundations of an earlier chapel on the site.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View of the modern buildings at the east end of the cloister with the remains of the mud brick range still extant to the south. 
Only the tower and one room to its north survived when the original range of buildings along the east collapsed due to termite damage in the 1980s.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tower
View of the site on the completion the Syrian-led excavations at Dayr Mar Elian
A Syrian team from the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) continued excavations at Dayr Mar Elian after the end of the British project. These images were taken on a site visit with the superior of the Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio and Fr. Jacques Mourad, a monk at Mar Musa and parish priest and prior of Mar Elian.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
View over excavated church with stone arches in the foreground
These views north and north west over the church show how the arcade excavated to the east of the church seems to have originally been part of a larger church building.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View over Qaryatayn looking east from the neighbouring hills
This view eastwards over Qaryatayn shows the wadi (seasonal watercourse) in the foreground with Dayr Mar Elian in the middle and the modern settlement in the background. The pictures face eastwards in the direction of Palmyra.
Type: Landscape
Tags: Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Desert, Landscape, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
View over the excavation looking north east
This shows the excavation on the site of the church and to the south and east of the 1938 structure looking north east.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
View to the south west looking over the former site of the 1938 church
This shows that the local account of a small chamber to the east of the sanctuary was correct. Local informants told of a small room to the east of the altar where those afflicted with illness stayed for three days and nights in the hope of cure from the saint.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Views of the Byzantine sarcophagus after the 1938 church was dismantled
It was the dampness around the sarcophagus of Mar Elian that first led to the structural survey that revealed that the 1938 church was unstable. The cement skim on the roof was uneven and pushed the east and west walls outwards. In addition mud brick walls above a stone foundation had been clad in cement. When water penetrated cracks in the cement, the walls could not breathe and this caused the damp and instability in the church.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Views of the cloister exterior
These pictures show the cloister after it was re-rendered - including a detail of the monastery entrance. This is contrasted with the north side of the cloister, where the render has not yet been renewed.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Wall
Views of the mud brick tower and adjoining room in the south east of the cloister
These are the buildings that survived the termite infestation that destroyed the rest of the range.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Tower