37 Items
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
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
Sergibleh
The C5th century church was very well preserved apart from on the south side, as the ruins were located at a short distance from modern dwellings. The only exception to this was the fact that the bema had been disturbed by looters.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Halaqa, Limestone Massif, Sergibleh, Syria
Dehes
Dehes is in the south of the Jebel Barisha and has been excavated by a French team since it was initially surveyed by Tchalenko. The C5th church in the village is generally very well preserved and has a bema, chancel screen and the altar stone still extant at the time of the site visit.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Altar, Architecture, Bema, C5th, Chancel Screen, Dehes, Jebel Barisha, Limestone Massif, Syria
Kimar
The modern village now surrounds the C5th church in Kimar, although a recently built house beside the site did not immediately threaten the ruins at the time of the site visit. The walls and bema were in relatively good condition, although nothing stood higher than around knee-height. At this site the bema had clear notches in the stone indicating that wooden seats and panels would have originally been attached to the stone base of the platform.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Seman, Kimar, Limestone Massif, Syria
The Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple, Hama
This church dates back to the C5th, but has been damaged and rebuilt many times over its history. Before the current civil war, it was last rebuilt in the 1990s having sustained damage in the 1982 offensive by the Syrian government against the Muslim Brotherhood in the city. Elements of the earliest structure do survive and it is particularly interesting for being a transverse-nave church, a type more usually found in the Tur Abdin region of Turkey.
Although Hama, then known as Epiphania, was an important Christian centre in late antiquity, more recently it had one of the smallest Christian communities in a major city. For that reason this entry is linked to nearby Homs, rather than treating Hama as a separate collection of data.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, C20th, C5th, Church, Hama, Syria, The Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple, Transverse nave, Tur Abdin, Turkey
Jeradeh
The modern settlement of Jeradeh has developed to the side of the ancient village, meaning that in the 1990s the site had not been plundered for stone . The C5th church is heavily overgrown and the foliage makes it difficult to see all the church interior.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Zawiyeh, Jeradeh, Limestone Massif, Syria
Ruweiha C5th church
Ruweiha is unusual for being the only village that had two churches with a bema, however in this case the nave-platform seems to have been dismantled when the church was superseded by a new, larger church in the village. Only the south and east sides of the building are still extant, but these survive in good condition and show that this was a substantial church, even if the later building in the village was even more impressive.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Zawiyeh, Limestone Massif, Ruweiha, Syria
Baqirha C5th church
The C5th church at Baqirha possesses a bema and has so many outbuildings that it was erronously believed to be a monastery in the past. Today most of the walls have fallen and it is difficult to make out the floorplan of the building.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Baqirha, Bema, C5th, Church, Jebel Barisha, Limestone Massif, Syria
Dar Qita
The Church of SS. Paul and Moses is an early C5th building in the village of Dar Qita on the plain near the contemporary Syrian-Turkish border. It has been used for stabling animals and a significant amount of stone has been stolen from the site.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bema, C5th, Church, Dar Qita, Jebel Barisha, Limestone Massif, St. Moses, St. Paul, Syria