Qalʿat Simʿan
Coordinates: 36 ° 20 ′ 2 ″ N , 36 ° 50 ′ 39 ″ E
Qalʿat Simʿan ( Arabic قلعة سمعان, DMG Qalʿat Simʿān ) was an early Byzantine monastery and an important pilgrimage site in the area of the Dead Cities in the north of present-day Syria . It was created at the place where Symeon Stylites , the first Christian pillar saint , worked and died in 459.
Under Emperor Zeno (474–491) the processional roads (holy ways) between Antioch and Deir Seman , the pilgrimage town on the plain below the hill on which the Qalʿat Simʿan monastery was located, were expanded. The ruins of the pilgrimage site are about 35 kilometers northwest of Aleppo on the road to Afrin .
Pilgrimage center and monastery
Already during Symeon's lifetime, many Christians sought out the famous pillar in order to receive advice, help and pastoral support from him. After his death, the place of effectiveness Symeon continued to be visited. A few years after Symeon's death, the expansion into a splendid pilgrimage center began with imperial support . The construction time was between 476 and 490. A huge church complex was built in just 15 years: starting from an octagonal main room in which the once 18 meter high column of Symeon stood, a three-aisled basilica extends in a cross shape in every direction . In the east basilica (in contrast to the others it has three apses ) the sacred celebrations were celebrated.
The pilgrimage center was entered from the south. The path led through an archway decorated with columns at the foot of the ridge, past the octagonal baptistery (baptistery) and the pilgrim hostels to the south portal of the main church. The building complex was 100 meters long from east to west and 88 meters from north to south. The four wings were each 24 meters wide. The octagon built around the column had a diameter of 28 meters. The total area of the church was 4800 square meters, that of the complex was 12,000 square meters. Until the establishment of Hagia Sophia in 537 AD in Constantinople, it was the largest sacred building in the Christian world.
The model for the architecture and building ornamentation was the wide arcade basilica by Qalb Loze, completed around 470 . The style development, which reached a climax with the Simeon monastery, was adopted in several church buildings in a similar or reduced form. The influence extended from the basilicas of Deir Turmanin and Deir Seta to the late ornamental forms on the Madrasa al-Hallabiya of Aleppo from the 12th century.
In the 10th century the complex was converted into a citadel, which is why a wall and 13 defense towers were added. For this reason, the former monastery complex is now called Qalʿat Simʿan : "Citadel of Symeon".
See also
literature
- Jean-Luc Biscop, Jean-Pierre Sodini: Travaux à Qal'at Sem'an (= Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome. Vol. 123 = Studi di antichità cristiana. Vol. 61, ZDB -ID 428303-x ). Ecole Française de Rome, Rome 1989, pp. 1675–1693.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann : Qalb Lōze and Qal'at Sem'ān. The special development of northern Syriac architecture in late antiquity (= Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Meeting reports. 1982, No. 6). Publishing house of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7696-1518-2 .
- Frank Rainer Scheck, Johannes Odenthal: Syria. High cultures between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert. 4th updated edition. DuMont, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7701-3978-1 , pp. 283-290.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Abdallah Hadjar: The northwestern limestone massif and the church of Saint Simeon Stylites the Elder . In: Fansa, Mamoun, Bollmann, Beate (ed.): The art of the early Christians in Syria. Signs, pictures and symbols . Verlag Phillipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 2008, ISBN 978-3-8053-3919-3 , p. 63-67 .