Umm al-Ahzan Church
The Umm al-Ahzan Church , Mater Dolorosa Church , Church of the Mother of God of Sorrows or Church of the Mother of Sorrows ( Arabic كنيسة أم الأحزان, DMG Kanīsat Umm al-Aḥzān ) is a church building of the Chaldean Catholic Church in the Iraqi capital Baghdad . It stands in the Aqd an-Nasara district within the Shorja district and was consecrated as the Chaldean cathedral Mater Dolorosa of Baghdad in 1898. However, the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph in the Karrada district has been the cathedral church since 1956 .
Location
The Chaldean Catholic Mater Dolorosa Church is located in the former Christian quarter of Aqd an-Nasara (عقد النصارى) within the Shorja district (الشورجة) from Baghdad around 100 m southwest of the old Latin Cathedral of St. Joseph , which is on the southwest side of Kalifenstrasse (شارع الخلفاء) stands as the southern neighboring building of the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, which was demolished in the Christmas season 2018, on a connecting street between Kalifenstrasse and ar-Raschid-Strasse (شارع الرشيد).
history
The first Chaldean Catholic Church Umm al-Ahzan (أم الأحزان, Mother of Sorrows , Latin Mater Dolorosa ) in the Christian quarter of Aqd an-Nasara in Baghdad was completed in 1843, but it soon suffered severe building damage due to flooding by the Tigris . But the building was too small for the growing Chaldean Catholic community. So it was decided to build a new church five meters higher in the same place that could accommodate 2,000 believers. For this purpose, the floor was built five meters higher and a drainage system was created below it. The Chaldean Patriarch Petros Elya XIV. Abbo Alyonan laid the foundation stone for the new cathedral on March 17, 1889, but he died of typhus on June 27, 1894 . On November 27, 1898, the new Mater Dolorosa Cathedral was consecrated by the new Patriarch Abdisho V. Khayat . In the middle of the 20th century, most Christians left the Aqd al-Nasara district and largely settled in the new Karrada district. The Chaldean Patriarchate of Babylon decided to build a new cathedral here, which began in 1952. In 1956 the new Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph in Karrada was consecrated by Patriarch Joseph Ghanima , with which the Mater Dolorosa Church gave up this function. As a result of the increasing acts of violence against Christians from 2003 onwards , more and more Christians left the city, so that by 2018 only about 120 Christian families were still living in the Aqd al-Nasara district. Therefore, only a few services are held in the Mater Dolorosa Church. Nevertheless, the church was restored in 2015 under the patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako .
architecture
The Babylonian style Chaldean church Umm al-Ahzan with its rectangular floor plan consists of a main nave and two side aisles, which are oriented northwest-southeast, with the sanctuarium, which is separated by simple railings, occupies the full width in the southeast. The very thick walls made of terracotta insulate and keep the temperatures cool in summer and warm in winter. They are decorated with terracotta reliefs on the outside .
Confusion of the Baghdad churches
Although the Umm al-Ahzan Church is no longer a cathedral, it is still listed on the Catholic website Gcatholic.org as the cathedral of the Patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldeans ( Patriarchatus Babylonensis Chaldaeorum ) and of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Baghdad ( Archidioecesis Babylonensis Chaldaeorum ). The location of the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Joseph , which now has this function, is incorrectly stated as the location of the Latin St. Joseph's Cathedral .
Coordinates: 33 ° 20 ′ 17.5 " N , 44 ° 23 ′ 43.3" E
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Pascal Meguesyan: Church of Mary mother of sorrows in Baghdad (Om Al-Ahzan). Mesopotamia Heritage, March 2018.
- ^ Church of Mary Mother of Sorrows - Baghdad, Iraq. Gcatholic.org, May 19, 2020, accessed July 15, 2020.
- ↑ Cathedral of St. Joseph - Baghdad, Iraq. Gcatholic.org, May 19, 2020, accessed August 2, 2020.