Places

This village once housed three churches of which remains of two survive. The church of AD 602 is one of the last churches built in Syria before the Persian invasion and the subsequent Islamic conquest. كانت هذه القرية فيما مضى تحوي ثلاث كنائس بقيت اثنتان منها. الكنيسة التي بنيت عام 602 تعتبر واحدة من آخر […]

This Islamic fortress on the eastern side of the Orontes Valley played an important role in the confrontation with the Crusaders in their line of posts in the coastal mountains to the west. It was the seat of the local Islamic dynasty, the Banu Munqidh, one of whose members, Osama, provided us in his memoirs […]

The church of ‘Our Lady of the Greeks’ sites almost by itself on the plain north of Jebel Sheikh Barakat and on the way to the Byzantine village of Refade. This fourth century Byzantine chapel, single naves, is almost devoid of decoration. The second and third images below are posted courtesy of the blogsite of […]

This site near Qanawat in the southern reaches of the Jebel Hauran has yielded important insights into the art and architecture of this area in the early classical period. However, the widespread looting of the site for stone in the late Ottoman period has left little for the visitor to appreciate without a careful study […]

The only surviving remains of this beautifully decorated Roman temple are parts of the two wings (antae) of the portico facing out to the east. Merrill’s engraving after his visit in the 1870s gives further indications of the shape of the cella or shrine, now hemmed in by village construction. Photos at — http://www.flickr.com/photos/monsyr/sets/72157628722453917/ ما تبقى […]