Qirq Bizeh is the name of a small abandoned settlement to the north of Qalb Lozeh. A C2nd villa was converted into a church in the C4th or C5th and retains the internal liturgical fittings that clearly identify the ritual use of the building. It is very small, but houses a bema and has a raised platform at the east end that is divided from the rest of the chamber by a chancel screen. There is also evidence of reliquary chambers in the screen and small reliquary caskets elsewhere. The bema retains its 'throne' or pulpit and the ritual use of the house extends to the courtyard where extensive cisterns seem to have housed water or olive oil in antiquity.
Creator
Emma Loosley
Date of Visit
May 1998
October 1998
Contributor
Emma Loosley
Rights
Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons
unless otherwise indicated
Related Resources
Emma Loosley, The Architecture and Liturgy of the Bema in Fourth- to-Sixth-Century Syrian Churches, TSEC 1, Brill, 2012 http://www.brill.com/architecture-and-liturgy-bema-fourth-sixth-century-syrian-churches
Type
Architecture
Tags
Architecture, Bema, C4th, Jebel Il'Ala, Limestone Massif, Martyrium, Pulpit, Qirq Bizeh, Reliquary, Syria, Throne
Collection
The Limestone Massif of North-Western Syria
Citation
Emma Loosley, “Qirq Bizeh,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed November 21, 2024, https://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/225.