4 Items
Shilda
The basilica at Shilda is a relatively large example of the "three church" type and represents a simple variant of the form. It has three windows on the east end and the north aisle is truncated because the eastern end forms a pastophorion only accessible from the central nave of the building, as encountered elsewhere in places such as Eniseli and Dubi. The central nave is a great deal higher than normal and this is the result of a substantial rebuilding in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries, almost certainly as the result of a Lezghin (Dagestani) raid. At the same time as the roof was raised, windows were added at the clerestory level to the north, south and west and doors were added from the central nave to the aisles and from the aisles to the exterior on both the north and south sides. The only two slight departures from this common form of basilica type that are original are the fact that the whole building is tied together - the aisles are tied into the central nave - rather than separate as a precaution against seismic activity and both the north and south aisles are considerably wider than is standard.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Basilica, C18th, C19th, Church, Dagestan, Georgia, Kakheti, Late Antique, Lezghins, Shilda, Three Church Basilica
Ulumbo
Mikael Ulumboeli is one of the lesser-known (As)Syrian Fathers and we have very little information about his life and death. A new monastery has been built near the village of Ulumbo and it is higher up from an earlier church that was remodelled in the nineteenth century. However, neither of these sites dates to late antiquity and the location of a presumed earlier foundation and/or saint's tomb remains unknown.
Type: Architecture
Tags: (As)Syrian Fathers, C19th, C21st, Church, Georgia, Mikael Ulumboeli, Monastery, Shida Kartli, Thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers, Ulumbo
The Milk Grotto, Bethlehem
A short distance from the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is the Milk Grotto. This is the place where the Holy Family are believed to have taken refuge during the Massacre of the Innocents and before their flight into Egypt. The Virgin Mary is said to have nursed Christ in this grotto and legend states that a drop of her milk fell to the ground and turned the rock white. In the fifth century, a church was built around the holy site to celebrate this event and pilgrims venerated it throughout Late Antiquity. The Franciscans constructed the present church in the late nineteenth century.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Bethlehem, C19th, C5th-C6th, Cave, Christ, Christian, Church, Holy Site, Pilgrimage, Rock, St. Joseph, Virgin Mary, West Bank
Church of Saints Peter and Paul
The Syrian Orthodox Church of SS. Peter and Paul has dedicatory inscriptions dated 1861 on the west entrance but appears to include elements of an older church. It is now called the Vali Kemalettin Gazezoğlu Cultural Centre.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, C19th, Church, Edessa, Inscription, St. Paul, St. Peter, Syriac, Syriac Inscription, Turkey, Urfa