The door to Dayr Mar Elian is one of the most ancient features still extant at the site. It is stone built, like the earliest courses of the wall on the south side, and inset in the later mud brick wall. The door is low to impede entrance as a security feature from earlier periods and the arch above the entrance has curved roundels with foliate motifs. Note in some of the pictures that there are bloody handprints above the interior door, these have been made by people sacrificing animals at the monastery and leaving handprints in fulfilment of a vow made to the saint.
Creator
Emma Loosley
Date of Visit
30th July 2001
2nd September 2001
Contributor
Daniel Hull
Rights
Metadata and all media released under Creative Commons
unless otherwise indicated
Related Resources
The photographs of the 2001-2003 survey and excavation seasons have been lodged with the Archaeological Data Service and are reproduced here with their permission. For those who would like more specialised information such as context and intervention numbers or direction of shot please refer to: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dmeap_ahrb_2004/gallery.cfm.
Type
Architecture
Tags
Architecture, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Monastery, Qaryatayn, Syria
Collection
The Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project (DMEAP)
Citation
Emma Loosley, “The door to Dayr Mar Elian,” Architecture and Asceticism, accessed May 18, 2024, https://architectureandasceticism.exeter.ac.uk/items/show/378.