33 Items
Qalb Lozeh 1992
A photograph taken of the church of Qalb Lozeh in December 1992.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Limestone Massif, Qalb Lozeh, Syria
The Early Christian bema churches of Syria revisited
A brief note published in Antiquity 75 (2001): 509-10
Type: Text
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Bema, Limestone Massif, Liturgy, Syria
The Early Syriac Liturgical Drama and its Architectural Setting
This article was published in 1999 and summarises some of the ideas that were expanded in the later monograph The Architecture and Liturgy of the Bema in Fourth- to-Sixth-Century Syrian Churches.
Type: Text
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Bema, C4th-C6th, Limestone Massif, Liturgy, Syria
Batir
The C5th church is relatively large with at least one large and elaborate sarcophagus still extant nearby. As at Barish North it has a flat east end, which is relatively unusual in this region. Only the south wall is extensively damaged, with the other three still quite well preserved and elements of the bema still visible in the nave.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Barish North, Batir, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Il'Ala, Limestone Massif, Syria
Barish North
The church is small and its flat east end abuts the Qalb Lozeh-Harim road. The bema is in situ, and as at Kimar has notches suggesting that a wooden structure was in place above the stone base of the bema. There are also reliquaries still in place on the altar steps. The church is very small and its unsophisticated plan and execution led Tchalenko to date it to the late C6th-early C7th.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Barish North, Bema, C6th-C7th, Church, Jebel Il'Ala, Kimar, Limestone Massif, Syria
Bahio
The C5th church at Bahio has a bema and, although overgrown had most of the west wall and a substantial part of the apse still standing. The site is surrounded by olive groves and the number of large olive presses in the late antique settlement demonstrates the antiquity of olive cultivation in the region.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bahio, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Il'Ala, Limestone Massif, Syria
Babisqa
The church dated 390-407/8 at Babisqa is the larger of the two churches on the village and possesses a bema. The apse and the west wall were well preserved when the site was visited, with the north and south sides damaged but with the stones still in situ.
Type: Architecture
Tags: 390-407/8, Architecture, Babisqa, Bema, Church, Jebel Barisha, Limestone Massif, Syria
Ba'udeh
The church at Ba'udeh has been dated to 392/3 by inscriptions and the village appears to have been very wealthy in late antiquity. The fallen masonry obscures the church interior, although the presence of notched pillars suggests that it had a nave barrier, as noted at other sites. Tchalenko recorded a Greek-style ambon - a pulpit that would have held one person - rather than the bema that was more common in this region of Syria.
Type: Architecture
Tags: 392/3, Ambon, Architecture, Ba'udeh, Bema, Church, Jebel Barisha, Kafar Daret 'Azzeh, Kfellusin, Kharab Shams, Limestone Massif, Syria
Kafar Hawwar
At the time of the visit there were no roads within about 30 minutes walk of this village. The church is largely rubble with only the sides of the apse arch still standing, with the destruction almost certainly caused my earthquakes. The bema was still visible and the site was undisturbed. Tchalenko could not securely date the site through survey and noted both C4th and C6th elements in the church.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C4th, C6th, Church, Jebel Halaqa, Kafar Hawwar, Limestone Massif, Syria
Kfellusin North Church
The north, probably C5th, church has been heavily mined for building materials and, at the time of the visit was strewn with rubbish. Only the bema, apse and part of the southern colonnade were still extant and the presence of a notched pillar suggested that originally some form of nave barrier was present - as appears to have been the case at several other sites such as Kharab Shams and Kafar Daret 'Azzeh.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Halaqa, Kafar Daret 'Azzeh, Kfellusin, Kharab Shams, Limestone Massif, Syria