247 Items
Dayr Mar Elian post-excavation 2005
These pictures were taken in 2005 after the British Archaeological excavations had ended and before a Syrian team undertook to excavate the entirety of the cloister. In the year since the excavations had ended a new mud brick chapel had been constructed over the sarcophagus of the saint and at the east end of this chapel the trench where three fragments of Byzantine reliquaries had been discovered with a broken glass vessel had been left uncovered. Groundworks on the north side of the chapel in preparation for a new northern cloister revealed the earlier stratigraphy of the enclosure/chapel wall.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeological Finds, Archaeology, Architecture, Chapel, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Omalo
Omalo is the largest village in Tusheti and one of very few to be inhabited all year round. It has grown a great deal in the last ten years as it has become the centre for tourism in the Tusheti National Park. Dzveli (Old) Omalo has the largest concentration of guest houses within the park and the visitor centre lies just outside the village. It also boasts a twentieth century church and a pagan ritual enclosure south of the old part of the village. As at Dartlo, the cluster of towers above the village is given a different name to the rest of the settlement. In Omalo the towers are called Keselo.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Church, Georgia, Keselo, Omalo, Pagan, Tower, Tusheti
Dartlo
Dartlo is located above a ford in the valley. The closest building to the river is a ruined stone structure that, on closer investigation possessed the traces of a fresco of an angel. This had obviously been a church in the past and was the only evidence of Christianity encountered on the first visit to Tusheti in 2006. By 2016 the village was more developed and second only in size to Dzveli Omalo for tourist infrastructure.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Church, Dartlo, Fresco, Georgia, Tower, Tusheti
Intervention 36, Cloister wall north of church
When the church structure was examined in detail it was discovered that the north wall was actually at least three walls built sandwiched against each other and rendered over to create a walk way along the northern wall of the cloister with a step up on to the church roof.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeology, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Excavation, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Wall
Stripping off the cement cladding of the interior of the Mar Elian 1938 church
The cement cladding in the west of the church around the sarcophagus was stripped back to try and alleviate a damp problem. During this process the structural faults of the building were fully revealed and it became clear that the church had to be dismantled.
Type: Architecture
Tags: 1938, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Syria, Syrian Civil War
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
View of the 1938 Church of Mar Elian
This church was built in 1938 over the Byzantine sarcophagus of Mar Elian on the site of the earlier shrine. In 2002 it was discovered that the cement cladding enclosed a mud brick structure. When the church was surveyed and the cement was stripped back to alleviate a damp problem, it became clear that the church had become fundamentally unstable. It was dismantled in 2004 and the salvaged materials were used in the rebuilding of a new church on the model of the 1938 structure to the west of the shrine. The new building was made of stone and a traditional mud brick chapel was constructed over the sarcophagus, which remained in situ.
Type: Architecture
Tags: 1938, Architecture, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sarcophagus, Shrine, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Dayr es Salib
The basilica at Dayr es Salib has an almost square floorplan and is believed to date to the C5th-C6th. The remains of a Greek-style ambon and a cruciform baptismal font are still in situ at the site.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Ambon, Architecture, Baptismal Font, Basilica, C5th-C6th, Church, Dayr es Salib, Syria
Eid Mar Elian 2001
Every September 9th the feast day of Mar Elian ("Eid Mar Elian") is celebrated at Dayr Mar Elian. As the saint is venerated as both a Christian saint (Mar Elian) and a Muslim Sheikh or holy man (Sheikh Ahmed Khoury - Sheikh Ahmed the Priest) several thousand people from Qaryatayn and the neighbouring villages attend the mass held in the cloister. This is presided over by the local Syrian Catholic Metropolitan and the Sheikh of Qaryatayn. These pictures start by showing the preparations for the event the day before the pilgrims arrive, before showing the events of the day itself. Msgr. Georges Kassab and Sheikh Assad are shown addressing the crowds attended by assorted Christian clerics, including Fr. Jacques Mourad, Prior of Mar Elian and Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio, the Abbot of Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi. On this occasion a small display was constructed in the church to explain about the forthcoming archaeological excavations and to educate local people about the processes of archaeology so that they were happy that the project would not impact on their worship at the tomb of Mar Elian.
Type: Ethnographic information/Social History
Tags: Church, Eid Mar Elian, Ethnographic information, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Sheikh Ahmed Khoury, Social History, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Visits of Cardinal Musa Daoud to Dayr Mar Elian
Cardinal Musa Daoud was formerly Syrian Catholic Metropolitan of Homs before being elevated to the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate in 1998. However he swiftly resigned the Patriarchate after being named Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in November 2000, a post that he held until 2007. As a native of Meskaneh in Homs province, the Cardinal had a special devotion to the shrine of Mar Elian and visited it annually to celebrate a mass at the site. Here two such visits in 2001 and 2003 represented in these photographs.
Type: Ethnographic information/Social History
Tags: Cardinal Musa Daoud, Church, Dayr Mar Elian, Ethnographic information, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Social History, Syria, Syrian Civil War