Mushabbak

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
View from the northeast. The two windows in the apse on the east wall are the only ones accentuated by profiled cornices.

Mushabbak , Arabic مشبك, also Mshabbak, Mushabbaq; is a very well-preserved, early Byzantine basilica in northwest Syria in the area of ​​the Dead Cities .

location

Mushabbak is located in Aleppo Governorate on a karst hilltop in the Jebel Halaqa area, which is part of the northern Syrian limestone massif , about 25 kilometers west of Aleppo and 3 kilometers from Dar Taizzah . A 600 meter long asphalt driveway branches off from the road to the south, which leads to the church. A small agricultural homestead uses the ancient cistern next to the ruins for water supply. The function of an underground room carved into the bedrock with a stairway near the west side of the church is unclear.

In the area no evidence of an ancient building was found on a large scale, which speaks against its use as a pilgrimage church or as a parish church. So the most likely possibility remains that it was a stopover for pilgrims who were on their way from Aleppo to the pilgrimage center of Qal'at Sim'an (Simeon Monastery) eight kilometers away . For the tourists who drive to the Simeon Monastery today, Mushabbak is similarly conveniently located next to the road and is therefore visited relatively often.

Design

The three-aisled columned basilica of Mushabbak is said to be the best preserved church building in the Dead Cities. This type of building was to be found in the entire Mediterranean area in the early Byzantine period and was first introduced in Syria in the middle of the 4th century in the area of ​​Jebel Siman. From here it became the most widespread type of church in the entire limestone massif with over 100 preserved ruins and formed the basis for the development of the Syrian wide arcade basilica of Qalb Loze . The uncertainty in the structural design of the first churches was evident from the narrow column position and the low height of the upper arcades above the two central column arcades as an overall unsightly proportioning. The static tasks are solved here routinely, with the arcades of the central nave being particularly high in relation to the total wall height (ratio 1: 1.7).

High wall of the central nave. Local style: the supports for the roof beams above are unrelated to the window openings in the upper storey. The windows are not oriented towards the arcades below.

The building is almost 20 meters long and 15 meters wide, 7.1 meters of which is accounted for by the central nave. This means that the church is only half the size of the largest urban columned basilica of Al-Bara , which was built at the same time. The semicircular apse in the east with a diameter of 5.9 meters is laterally surrounded by rectangular side rooms, as was already the case with the earliest churches, and remains hidden from the outside behind the straight east wall. The southern side room is connected to the side aisle as a pastophorium (similar to a sacristy ) through a round arch opening. In the north the room served as a martyrion ( reliquary chamber ) and had a door to the side aisle and a second door to the apse. The two entrances on the south long side were taken from the house building tradition, one entrance is in the middle of the north side and an entrance portal decorated with three medallions on the lintel is on the west side. The large number of arched windows that provided plenty of skylight in the church is striking. The high walls of the central nave alone are pierced by nine windows, which lack reference to the six arcade arches. There are five arched windows in each of the lower side walls. The west facade is perforated by windows in three rows. Only the two arched windows on the east side are surrounded by a flat cornice. This form of decoration, which was later widely used in windows in churches and residential buildings, may appear here for the first time. The cornice is similar to that on the Serjilla Church, dated 473 .

The Mushabbak church dates back to the second half of the 5th century at the earliest. Butler dated it around 460. After comparing styles, Strube considered dating it around 500 or not until the end of the 530s. She found forms of capital that can be traced back here and on the Eastern Church of Kalota (according to the inscription from 492) to the model of the Simeonskirche, built from 476 to 490.

The execution of the decorative elements reveals a workshop that worked with local ideas, which in part contradict classic ancient architectural ideals. A local tradition that is typical of rural northern Syrian churches is the inconsistent use of capitals . There are eight different capital forms on the two six columns, styles of the Tuscan , Corinthian , chalice-shaped capital and pillow capital.

literature

  • Howard Crosby Butler: Early Churches in Syria. Fourth to Seventh Centuries. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1929 (Amsterdam 1969)
  • Christine Strube : Building decoration in the northern Syrian limestone massif. Vol. II. Forms of capitals, doors and cornices from the 6th and early 7th centuries AD (Damascus Research 12) Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2002, pp. 189–195

Web links

Commons : Mushabbak  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christine Strube: The "Dead Cities". Town and country in northern Syria during late antiquity. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1996, pp. 20, 32, ISBN 3805318405
  2. ^ Frank Rainer Scheck, Johannes Odenthal: Syrien. High cultures between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert. DuMont, Cologne 1998, p. 294 f
  3. ↑ Howard Crosby Butler 1929, p. 63 f
  4. ^ Strube, 2002

Coordinates: 36 ° 15 ′ 17 ″  N , 36 ° 53 ′ 1 ″  E