47 Items
Visit of the Community of al-Khalil (Deir Mar Musa) to the excavations at Dayr Mar Elian
The Community of Al-Khalil visited from Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi at the end of the 2004 season to tour the excavations at their daughter house of Dayr Mar Elian.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Deir Mar Musa, Mar Elian, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Views looking east from Deir Mar Musa
Views looking eastwards from the central courtyard of Deir Mar Musa over the desert.
Type: Landscape
Tags: An Nabk, Deir Mar Musa, Desert, Landscape, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Syria
Dayr al Hayek 
Dayr al Hayek means "the monastery of the weaver" and is a cave south of Deir Mar Musa. The archaeological evidence found in the cave suggests that it was inhabited by a hermit in the early phase of the monastery when it was a lava. This means that the monks lived in cells/caves around the central monastic buildings and came together only for communal prayer at specific times. The cave was named due to the fact that a loom was discovered there. A new building now envelops the cave as an annexe to the main monastery of Deir Mar Musa.
Type: Landscape
Tags: An Nabk, Cave, Dayr al Hayek, Deir Mar Musa, Lavra, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria
Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi
These views of the monastery are from the south, looking north. The western part of the monastery on this side is believed to date back to the Roman period and is now used as a kitchen and the south eastern part is a new addition to the monastic library and additional bathroom facilities. On the northern side of the monastery is the chapel, which dated back to the C6th although the roof was raised and it was altered in the C11th. The fortified section to the west has been attributed to the C14th-C15th.
Type: Architecture
Tags: An Nabk, Architecture, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria
Courtyard view of Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi
View of the monastery courtyard.
Type: Architecture
Tags: An Nabk, Architecture, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria
The Deir Mar Musa Censer
This is the text of a lecture given on the occasion of a facsimile of the censer taken from Deir Mar Musa by Richard Burton in the C19th being returned to the Community at a reception at the British Council in Damascus on September 27th 2001. The images cannot be included as the copyright for those rests with the British Museum.
Type: Text
Tags: An Nabk, British Museum, Censer, Deir Mar Musa, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Nabk, Richard Burton, St. Moses, St. Moses the Abyssinian, St. Moses the Ethiopian, Syria
The Church of Mar Sarkis, Sadad
The Church of Mar Sarkis (St. Sergius) in Sadad is a Syrian Orthodox Church that dates back to late antiquity. It is principally notable for its extremely rare C18th wall paintings commissioned by Bishop Dioskoros Sarukhan, who is reported to have died in Sadad on 11th February 1769 at the age of 110.
The images are unique not only because they are they only surviving C18th cycle on the entire region, but also for the information that they give us about the veneration of local saints. The scenes include Mar Musa al-Habashi (St. Moses the Abyssinian or Ethiopian) and Mar Elian esh-Sharqi (St. Julian the Old Man) both of whom have local monasteries named after them at Qaryatayn and Nabk respectively. Whereas Mar Elian is depicted on the medieval frescoes at Deir Mar Musa, this is the earliest known depiction of Mar Musa. Other unusual scenes include Jonah and the whale and portraits of Bishop Dioskoros and other bishops. There is also a notable, apparently C19th, icon of Mar Sarkis in the church. Before the civil war the paintings were being restored by a team from the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (DGAM) and these images were taken in 2008 when the work was underway.
Type: Painting
Tags: C18th, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Dioskoros Sarukhan, Fresco, Jonah, Mar Elian esh-Sharqi, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Mar Sarkis, Nabk, Qaryatayn, Sadad, St. Julian the Old Man, St. Moses the Abyssinian, St. Moses the Ethiopian, St. Sergius, Syria