Frauenkirche (Yabrud)

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The Frauenkirche or Church of Our Lady ( Arabic كنيسة السيدة) Is the largest church of the Melkite Christians in Yabrud in Syria . The church was badly damaged in the civil war in Syria , but it was restored after 2014.

history

In the 1980s there was a need for a new church for the Melkite Christians in Yabrud, since the old cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helena could no longer accommodate the more than 3000 believers.

In the place of the current Frauenkirche there was an old church from Roman times, around the 4th or 5th century, which was destroyed in the 13th century. The foundations of the old church were prepared when the new one was built and parts of the old columns were also integrated. The new church was built in a modern style in the form of a ridge tent (a saddle roof that extends to the ground) over the old walls. On June 10, 1990 the new church was opened.

During the civil war in Syria , Yabrud came under the control of the Free Syrian Army as early as 2011 , with the Frauenkirche initially not suffering any damage. This changed when the Islamist al-Nusra Front forcibly took power in Yabrud in 2013. In October 2013, al-Nusra, who now ruled the place, blew up the cross from the Melkite Church of Our Lady. Nevertheless, services were held regularly. On February 20, 2014, jihadists broke into the Frauenkirche in Yabrud and destroyed or stole the entire facility. The increasing terror led to the emigration of Christians, but the Melkite Father George Hadad stayed on site the entire time. On March 16, 2014, government forces retook Yabrud with the support of Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah . After the reconquest of the place, nine of the 3500 Christians in Yabrud were still in Yabrud, some of whom had fled the fighting. In the following months the majority of the people who had fled returned - 85% of the Christians by the beginning of 2015. The Melkite priests returned shortly before Good Friday 2014. In the neighboring mosque, they were allowed to use the loudspeakers to call for Good Friday prayer. Current pictures show the Frauenkirche again in a neat condition.

architecture

The Frauenkirche in Yabrud is structurally a mixture of very old church walls and modern concrete structures. The foundations date from late antiquity, from the 3rd or 4th century. The modern building from 1990 has the shape of a ridge tent that was erected over the old walls. On the outside, the church also has elements of a basilica , because along the ridge runs an elevated area with a cliff with twelve arched windows on both sides, but this rests on the concrete construction of the "tent". In front of the main entrance is a porticus with a modern roof structure in the Byzantine style. Inside there are rows of remains of old columns, albeit without a supporting function. There is a large white statue of the Virgin Mary on the square in front of the church.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ كنيسة السيّدة - يبرود . [Frauenkirche Yabrud], accessed on June 6, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b متري هاجي اثناسيو ، قتيبة شهابي ، 2005 ، اديرة وكنائس دمشق وريفها: (بحث ميداني توثيقي تاريخي اثري)[ Mitri Haji Athanasio , Qutaiba Shihabi : Monasteries and churches in Damascus and their landscape (historical archaeological documentary research). Damascus 2005], p. 258.
  3. ↑ متري هاجي اثناسيو ، 1997 ، موسوعة بطريركية انطاكية التاريخية والأثرية: سورية المسيحية في الألف يلأيل د[Mitri Haji Athanasio: Encyclopedia of the History and Archeology of the Patriarchate of Antioch: Christian Syria in the First Millennium AD Damascus 1997], Volume V, pp. 328 and 332.
  4. ↑ Christine Marlow: Inside Syria's model town: Peace, until al-Qaeda arrived. The Telegraph , October 5, 2013.
  5. ↑ a b Oliver Maksan, Amanda Bridget Griffin: Before the jihadists arrived. ACN Canada, February 17, 2015.
  6. ↑ “Our Lady” Melkite Basilica in Yabroud. Aid to the Church in Need , ACN International. Christians of Syria, ACN Syria, January 29, 2016.
  7. ^ Syrian army captures strategic border town. Backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, Syrian troops clear out rebels holed up in Yabroud for months, says state TV. Al Jazeera , March 17, 2014.

Coordinates: 33 ° 58 ′ 25.5 ″  N , 36 ° 39 ′ 45.2 ″  E