Christian Quarter of Damascus

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Christian and Jewish quarter of Damascus 1958, city wall not shown.
Legend:
Churches
AaC : Armenian Apostolic Cathedral Saint Sarkis
AcC : Armenian Catholic Cathedral of the Queen of the Universe , former Jesuit Church
AcFc : former Armenian Catholic Church
CcTh : Chaldean Catholic Church of Saint Theresa
EvDw : Evangelical Church (Dawamna Street)
GoC : Greek Orthodox Mariamite Cathedral
GoJd : Greek Orthodox Church of St. John of Damascus
GoP : Building complex of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and the entire Orient
MkC : Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady al-Niah
MkPa : Melkite Greek Catholic St. Paul's Chapel
MrC : Maronite Anthony Cathedral
RCFR : Roman Catholic Franciscan
RCha : Roman Catholic Church in the house of Ananias
RcLz : Roman Catholic Lazaristenkloster
ScC : Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Saint Paul
SoC : Syrian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George
SÖF : Syrian Orthodox Church

synagogue
sYmn : Al-Menarsc Ha Synagogue
SyRq : Al-Racqy Synagogue
SyFr : Al-Faranj Synagogue

Mosque
JAh : Red Mosque (Jâmi al-'Ahmar)
JOm : Omari Mosque

Hammam
HBa : Hammam Bakri
HQm : Hammam al-Qaymariyya
Old town of Damascus 1855, with city gates and city walls. In the northeast at the city gates Bab Tuma and Bab Sharky the Christian Quarter , south of Straight Street the Jewish quarter . 1.  Armenian Apostolic Cathedral , 2.  Greek Catholic Cathedral , 3.  Syrian Catholic Cathedral , 4.  House of Ananias , 5.  Lazarist monastery (since 1959 to the south of it Syrian Orthodox Cathedral ), 6.  Latin monastery , 7.  Greek Orthodox Cathedral , 8th  Chan As'ad Pasha , 9th  House of Judas , 10th British Consulate, 11th Customs House, 12th tomb of Sidi Bilāl , 13th tomb of George , 14th  Bab Kisan (St Paul's Chapel since 1936) , 15th Place of Conversion of Paul , 16th Hospital, Umayyad Mosque (Great Mosque) and Citadel (Castle)
The Thomastor Bab Tuma is on the northern edge of the district, here in the background the church and mosque

The Christian Quarter of Damascus ( Arabic حارة النصارى, DMG Ḥārat an-Naṣārā ) is the quarter of the old town of Damascus , which is mainly inhabited by Christians , which occupies the northeast of the old town and borders the two historic city gates Bāb Tūmā (the Thomastor in the northeast) and Bāb Sharqī (the east gate). After these gates, parts of the quarter are also called Bāb Tūmā and Bāb Sharqī . The other two districts are the Muslim quarter in the western half and the former Jewish quarter (حارة اليهود, DMG Ḥārat al-Yahūd ) in the southeast of the old town.

Surname

The Christian quarter of the old town of Damascus is not the only predominantly Christian district of the capital; For example, in Tabbaleh , southeast of the old town , which is also assumed to be the place of Paul's conversion , predominantly Christians live. Nevertheless, in publications, the “Christian quarter of Damascus” means the quarter in the old town. The two quarters of Bāb Tūmā and Bāb Sharqī , named after the city gates of the same name and located on both sides of the main streets named after them, are recorded on many city maps in the predominantly Christian part of the old town , for example on a US military map from 1958 , where the northern half of the Christian quarter is called Bâb Touma and the southern half of Bâb Charqi . However, this designation changes; so in a work on urban development the area at Bāb Charqi south of the residential area Bab Tuma is referred to as Harat al-Zeitoun (with entry north of the straight road), with the street Ḥārat az-Zaitūn with the al-Zeitoun church one south of the Straight road is outgoing dead end. In a building history work from 2008, the eastern half of the Christian quarter is called Bāb Tūmā , while on other plans the whole quarter is called that. In administrative terms , the residential quarters known as Bāb Tūmā and Bāb Sharqī form a unit. The address Bab Touma for the district is often used, not least by church institutions such as the Franciscan monastery, the Syrian Orthodox, the Maronite or the Armenian Catholic Church.

expansion

In the middle of the straight road (الشارع المستقيم, DMG AS-Šāri' al-mustaqim ) extending from Bab Al-Dschābiya (باب الجابية) in the west to the east gate Bāb Sharqī (باب شرقي) there is a Roman triumphal arch . This is considered the border between the Muslim part in the west and the Christian and Jewish part in the east, with the Christian quarter to the north and the former Jewish quarter to the south. However, the area south of the straight road between the dead end Ḥārat az-Zaitūn (حارة الزيتون'Olive Alley') and the Bāb Sharqī, which is dominated by three cathedrals and their facilities, also belong to the Christian quarter. The straight road east of the Roman triumphal arch, i.e. in the area of ​​the Christian quarter, is officially called Šāriʿ Bāb Šarqī (شارع باب شرقي). About 300 m east of the triumphal arch branches to the north the road Šāriʿ Bāb Tūmā (شارع باب توما), which leads through the Christian quarter to the Thomastor ( Bāb Tūmā ).

Streets and landmarks

Along Bāb-Sharqī Street, the eastern half of Straight Street, there are four cathedrals with their associated administrative buildings. Directly east of the triumphal arch on the north side behind a block of houses in which the rooms of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch are located, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Basilica , the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus , which is said to have been built around the year 200. Shortly before the east gate Bāb Sharqi there are three cathedrals of different Christian churches to the south of the street: About 100 m in front of the east gate on the south side of Straight Street is the Saint Paul Cathedral of the Syrian Catholic Church and south of it the Al-Zeitoun- Church known Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral. The Saint Sarkis Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church is located directly at the Bāb Sharqi on the south side of Straight Street .

Bāb-Tūmā Street, which runs north-east in sections, is also lined with churches. Coming from Bāb-Sharqī-Street, after 75 m on the east side you can see the palace of Abdul Nur, which is not accessible to visitors, and after another 25 m on the right side the seat of the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch with the Cathedral of St. George . Shortly afterwards, on the corner before al-Azaria-Straße ( Lazarus -Straße , Arabic شارع العازرية), stands the Lazarist monastery with the attached school al-Fajer ( Arabic الفجر, DMG al-Faǧr  'Dawn') at its southern end. On the west side of the street is the palace ash-Shamiye (الشامية, DMG aš-Šāmīya ). Before the next road to the east, Klosterstraße ( Arabic شارع الدير, DMG Šāriʿ ad-Dair ), to the east is the Franciscan monastery of Damascus and opposite this to the north, to the east, the Maronite Cathedral of Damascus (Mar Antonios). Directly on the northern corner of Klosterstrasse with Bāb-Tūmā-Strasse, however, there is a small mosque, the Omari Mosque. Hardly 150 m north of this street corner is the Thomas Gate, Bāb Tūmā , around which a roundabout was built in the 1950s, for which parts of the city wall and houses were demolished.

Shortly to the south of the roundabout at the city gate, the "Firewood Canal Street" branches off to the west from Bāb-Tūmā Street (قناية الحطب, DMG Qanāyat al-Ḥaṭab ), on the north side of which about 100 m west in the residential area al-Tal ("the hill",التل, DMG at-Tall ) is the Armenian Catholic Church of the Queen of the Universe , built in the 1950s . On the south side of the street, across from the luxury hotel, Beit al-Mamlouka stands west on the corner of asch-Schawisch-Gasse (حارة الشاويش, DMG Ḥārat aš-Šāwīš ), which flows south across from the Armenian Catholic Cathedral, the approximately 500-year-old Hammam Bakri (حمام بكري, DMG Ḥammām Bakrī ), which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for women and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for men. Dawamneh Street leads 30 m east to the south (شارع الدوامنة, DMG Šāriʿ ad-Dawāmina ), on the east side of which about 100 m south there is again the Evangelical Church of the National Evangelical Church . Further south on this road is the small Dawamneh Park (حديقة ساحة الدوامنة, DMG Ḥadīqat Sāḥat ad-Dawāmina ). Between Dawamneh Street, which here turns into al-Assieh Alley (حارة الآسية, DMG Ḥārat al-Āsiya ) passes over, and the Bāb-Tūmā Street runs in a west-east direction the Johannes-von-Damascus-Straße (شارع يوحنا الدمشقي, DMG Šāriʿ Yūḥanā ad-Dimašqī ), at its western end on the southern side, corner of al-Assieh-Gasse, about 100 m northeast of the Greek Orthodox Mariamite Cathedral, which is also the Greek Orthodox Church of St. John of Damascus . Halfway on the north side of the Johannes-von-Damascus-Straße is the "Park under the hill" Hadiqat Sefl El-Talleh (حديقة سفل التلة, DMG Ḥadīqat sufl at-Talla ).

South of the Franciscan monastery, a dead end street leads from Bāb-Tūmā-Street in a western direction, the "Stahlgasse" (حارة بولاد, DMG Ḥārat Būlād ), on the south side of which about 30 m west of Bāb-Tūmā-Straße stands the St. Theresa Church of the Chaldean Catholic Church .

In the very east of the district, Hanania Street, named after Ananias of Damascus , runs from Bāb Sharqī to al-Azarya Street in a north-south direction parallel to the city wall (شارع حنانيا, DMG Šāriʿ Ḥanāniyā ), which makes a bend to the west at the level of al-Azarya Street and merges into this. At the bend in the street is the house of Ananias , which is below today's street level and therefore looks like a basement building and today serves as the church of the Roman Catholic Church. An entrance area in the form of a chapel is set up above the underground building. Further south, about halfway down, on the east side of Hanania-Strasse is another small church, the Syrian Orthodox Saint Ephrem Church , where the development organization of the Syrian Orthodox Church is also located.

Structure of the residential areas

As in other old Arab cities, the Christian district of Damascus has numerous dead-end streets with traditional, often two-story courtyard houses, in which the courtyards are completely surrounded by the residential buildings. By the destruction of the Christian district in 1860 , many of these old houses were lost. Reforms from 1864 to 1871 brought about considerable changes in the reconstruction: While the courtyard house remained as a concept, new straight streets were laid out, so that the courtyards were now often bordered by a wall on one side of a street.

Culture

While Christianity was subject to clear restrictions in earlier times, such as in the Ottoman Empire , the Christian faith is lived freely and openly by the residents of the Christian quarter today. Public life is comparatively autonomous from the rest of Damascus. Almost all shops are open on Friday ( Islamic holiday), while many shopkeepers close on Sundays. Bāb Tūmā is also known as the student district where foreigners stay with local host families. The character of the district is also considered to be “cosmopolitan” due to the numerous restaurants.

history

Damascus is mentioned in the 9th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles of Luke as one of the first cities in which there were followers of the risen Jesus Christ, but also conflicts with the local Jewish community, which had several synagogues in the city. Paul of Tarsus , persecutor of those who believe in Christ, here still under the name of Saul, has his Damascus experience at the gates of the city and comes to believe in Jesus Christ himself ( Acts 9: 3-9  EU ). One of the first followers of Jesus, Ananias of Damascus , lays his hand on him in the house of Judas on Straight Street and makes the blinded Saul see again ( Acts 9:11  EU ). Only a few days later, Saul himself proclaimed the message of the Son of God Jesus ( Acts 9.20  EU ), but had to flee because of the persecution by the Jews ( Acts 9.25  EU ).

The oldest still existing church in Damascus is the Marienkirche, which was built around the year 200 and is now the Mariamite Cathedral . When, under Constantine the Great, Christianity had become a permitted religion (religio licita) in the Roman Empire , the Christian basilica of St. John the Baptist was built on parts of the once huge Temple of Jupiter at the end of the 4th century, in which the head of St. John the Baptist was kept as a relic . After the Islamic conquest of Damascus by Chālid ibn al-Walīd in 636 , the churches were forcibly closed, but the building of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist served as a place of worship for both Christians and Muslims for about 70 years . Under Mu'awiya I. , the first caliph of the Umayyad (661-680), was still a majority of the population of the Caliph Damascus Christian faith. In 706, Caliph al-Walid I ordered the cathedral to be converted into the Umayyad mosque , for which large parts of the building were demolished and rebuilt as a mosque. For this, al-Walid I decided that the Christians could continue to visit their other churches and the Jews their synagogues, but with payment of the jizya . Now the Marienkirche on Geraden Straße served the Greek Orthodox Christians as a cathedral - to this day.

Ibn ʿAsākir reports 500 years after the Islamic conquest that eight of the city's 14 churches had fallen into disrepair, one destroyed and three churches - like the synagogue - converted into mosques. Only two churches still served the Christians of Damascus, with the Greek Orthodox St. Mary's Church becoming a central reference point for them. The second Syrian Orthodox church that was preserved at that time stood west of the city gate Bāb Tūmā .

The residential areas around the remaining churches in the northeast of the old town between the Marienkirche near the former intersection of Decumanus (Straight Street) and Cardo at the former Roman triumphal arch and the two city gates Bāb Tūmā in the northeast and the east gate Bāb Sharqī developed into the residence of the Christians of Damascus. The settlement of Christians in segregated quarters ("ghettos") was not an official policy, but for practical reasons Christians settled around the churches. Yet at no time has there been complete segregation between Muslims and Christians. The Christian faith was not allowed to be shown to the outside through a conspicuous architecture, which is why the churches did not stand out from the buildings.

In 1516 Damascus fell to the Ottoman Empire . Christians were clearly restricted; new churches were not permitted without special permission. Since the end of the 18th century, the importance of Catholic denominations in the Ottoman Empire and also in Damascus grew. In connection with the Tanzimat reforms, Sultan Mahmud II permitted the construction of new Christian churches in 1830 . As a result, several new, especially Catholic churches were built, including the Melkites' al-Zeitoun church from 1833 to 1834 . In addition to this and other churches united with Rome such as the Syrian Catholic or the Armenian Catholic Church , the Roman Catholic Church was also present in the Christian quarter of Damascus. According to the Handbook of Biblical Geography and Area Studies of 1844, there were three Roman Catholic monasteries in Damascus: the Franciscan Monastery of the Custody of the Holy Land , in which eight clergymen from Spain lived, the Monastery of the Lazarists and the Monastery of the Capuchins , in the 1832 but only one priest still lived. The disappearance of Father Tomaso and his Muslim servant Ibrahim Amara on February 5, 1840 from the Capuchin monastery, which no longer exists, led to the so-called Damascus affair , in which Jews in the city were accused of ritual murder and there were serious riots against Jews.

The destroyed Christian quarter of Damascus, 1860.

Around 1860, of the approximately 150,000 inhabitants of Damascus, over 100,000 were Muslim. In the course of the civil war in the Lebanon Mountains , the Christian district of Damascus was sacked by Druze militias on July 9, 1860 , and depending on the source, around 3,000 to 6,000 Christians in the city of Damascus, including 30 priests and three bishops, were murdered. The Emir Abd el-Kader intervened and brought several thousand Christians to the citadel of Damascus for protection , for which Napoleon III. the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor was awarded. Eleven Christian martyrs who were killed in the Franciscan Monastery of Damascus were born in 1926 by Pope Pius XI. beatified.

During the civil war in Syria , the old town of Damascus came under repeated attack by Islamist rebels from 2013 onwards, with the Christian district that was closest to the Islamist rebel stronghold in Ghouta east of the capital being particularly hard hit. In 2013 and 2014 the front ran only 500 meters from Bāb Sharqī, but the rebels were pushed back towards Ghouta in the course of 2014. However, the opposition forces in Eastern Ghouta held out for another four years. After a long period of calm, mortar shells were fired again from Eastern Ghouta on the old city of Damascus on January 8, 2018, and the attacks lasted for several weeks. At the same time there was a final offensive by the Syrian army against the rebels in Ghouta. In addition to the Maronite cathedral , where up to five people are reported to have died on January 8, the buildings of the Franciscan monastery were also badly hit. Some buildings in the old town were damaged by the heavy bombing for the first time in the civil war. On February 21, 2018, three children died in a grenade attack on the Franciscan school. There was another targeted attack on Christian schools in Damascus on March 1, 2018. According to the Franciscan Father Bahjat Elia Karach, the 13 rockets hit exactly when the school was out. The aim of the rebels in Eastern Ghouta was to kill as many children as possible. The bombings ended with the capture of Eastern Ghouta by the Syrian army in April 2018. According to the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II Karim , the Christians in Damascus only feel better after the Islamists are driven out of Ghouta.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter's pupil: Syria - past and present . In: In the land of the Lord. Franciscan magazine for the Holy Land , vol. 73, 2/2019, pp. 54–75, here pp. 66–69 ( The memorial of Pauli Conversion ). ( PDF )
  2. ↑ a b c d e Diana Darke: Syria . Bradt Travel Guides, 2006. pp. 91f. The Christian quarter .
  3. ↑ See also Christian Quarter on the map: JL Porter: Map of Damascus . In: Five years in Damascus: Including an Account of the History, Topography, and Antiquities of That City; with Travels and Researches in Palmyra, Lebanon, and the Hauran, Five years in Damascus . J. Murray, London 1855.
  4. ↑ Zara Lababedi: Map 11 - Damascus Old City . In: The Urban Development of Damascus: A study of its past, present and future. Thesis MSc, University College London, Faculty of The Built Environment, Bartlett School of Planning (no year), p. 62.
  5. ↑ a b c Dorothée Sack : Damascus, Syria. Bait Sarji and Bait Yazi. The "big" and the "small" house at Bab Sharqi - a mirror of the events !? ( Memento from June 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Jahrbuch MSD 2006-08, Berlin 2008, p. 82 ( download the entire issue as a PDF file )
  6. ↑ http://www.hot-map.com/de/damascus - German-language map of Damascus on Hot-Map.com, accessed on May 6, 2020.
  7. ↑ Damascus / Bab Touma - Saint Paul's Monastery. Custodia Terrae Sanctae , accessed May 14, 2020.
  8. ↑ Easter Sunday Holy Qurobo. Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, April 18, 2020.
  9. ^ Saint Anthony (Mar Antonios) Maronite Cathedral and Bishopric, Bab Touma district. Christians of Syria, Aid to the Church in Need, January 8, 2018.
  10. ↑ Patriarchal Exarchate of Damas (Armenian). Catholic Hierarchy, accessed May 14, 2020.
  11. ↑ a b The Christian Quarter in Damascus. In: Nikolai Müller: Christianity and Christian Quarter. In: Hicham Tannous et al .: Excursion Damascus - Syria from May 27, 2007 to June 3, 2007 as part of the Master's degree in Monument Care and Urban Development at TU Dresden , pp. 54–56, here p. 55.
  12. ↑ 07.01.2020 Putin, Assad visit Greek Orthodox church in Damascus. Ekathimerini.com, January 7, 2020.
  13. ↑ a b Justin Marozzi: Islamic Empires - Fifteen Cities did Define a Civilization . Penguin Books, London 2019. Chapter 2, 8th Century: Damascus - The Perfumed Paradise ( GB , GB ).
  14. ^ Christian C. Sahner: Umayyad Mosque - A Glittering Crossroads ( Memento from July 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2010.
  15. ↑ Damascus. In: George Anton Kiraz (Ed.): Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage . Gorgias Press, Beth Mardutho - The Syriac Institute, Piscataway (New Jersey) 2011. Electronic Edition . Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  16. ^ Daniel Demeter: Damascus - al-Zeitoun Church. Syria Photo Guide, July 1, 2014.
  17. ↑ Lorenz Clemens Gratz: Handbuch der Biblischen Erd- und Länderkunde , 1844. S. 59.
  18. ↑ Peter Haber : Between Jewish Tradition and Science. Dissertation . University of Basel 2005. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-412-32505-8 , p. 280.
  19. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums. IV., No. 18, Leipzig, May 2, 1840, p. 253.
  20. ↑ The forgotten massacre. The portal to the Catholic spiritual world, accessed on May 6, 2020.
  21. ↑ Gerhard Schweizer: Understanding Syria . Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-608-94908-7 , pp. 265 .
  22. ↑ Gerald H. Anderson: Biographical dictionary of Christian missions . Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999. p. 582.
  23. ↑ The Massabki brothers. Living Maronite , accessed May 6, 2020.
  24. ↑ Christoph Meyer: "Islam is in a serious crisis." Interview with Bishop Armash Nalbandian from the Armenian St. Sarkis Cathedral . Stuttgarter Nachrichten , January 8, 2015.
  25. ↑ Matthew Davis: Damascus archbishop describes Syrian Catholics' plight. The Catholic Spirit, November 16, 2018.
  26. ↑ Giuseppe Caffulli (translation Paul Waldmüller OFM and Gabriel Gnägy OFM): In Damascus, monasteries and churches under bomb attack. Terra Santa, January 24, 2018.
  27. ↑ Damascus. Three children of the Franciscan school killed. Victims of the terrorist attacks from the “rebel-held Ghouta” on the Christian quarters of the Syrian capital. Ostkirchen.info portal, February 21, 2018.
  28. ^ Syria: Franciscans lament jihadist terror. Vatican News , March 5, 2018.
  29. ↑ Ulrich W. Sahm: “No alternative to Assad in Syria”. Israel Network, September 30, 2019.

Coordinates: 33 ° 30 ′ 40 "  N , 36 ° 18 ′ 56"  E