Monastery of Mor Gabriel of Qartmin

To better understand the fabric of the monastery complex, it is useful to categorize its structures into two groups: the first includes buildings dating from the 4^th to the 6^th century AD, comprising all the buildings that are at ground level or below. The second group includes structures that were built in the mid-20^th century and later.

Buildings dating to the 4^th–6^th centuries AD:

The earliest structures include the main church (Church of Mor Gabriel), the Dome of Theodora with its adjoining rooms, the corridor to the west, the crypt (Beth Qadishe), and the Church of the Virgin Mary with its adjoining rooms. Other ancient buildings are located outside the monastery complex, including the Arches of Mor Gabriel, Dome of the Egyptians, and the Great Cistern.

The Church of Mor Gabriel was closed for renovation when the MMM team documented the monastery complex in June 2015. However, it has been described in detail by Gertrude Bell and Hans Hollerweger.1 The church consists of a narthex and nave, three sanctuaries, and three burial chambers. The narthex, built by the benefaction of the emperor Anastasius in 512 AD, is located to the west and is covered by a tiled gable roof. From the narthex a single door opens into the nave, which takes the form of a large barrel vaulted hall; small windows in the southern wall allow light into the nave. A great stone slab with inscriptions dating to the 8^th century once stood in the middle of the nave as a lectern (it is now placed in the Dome of Theodora).

Three doors lead from the nave into three barrel vaulted sanctuaries, each of which contains an altar. The central sanctuary's thick wall has been hollowed into a curved apse, in which stands the church's main altar. The floor and the vault of this sanctuary are decorated with mosaics. While the floor mosaic consists only of large stones, the vault’s mosaic is more elaborate. At its center, it features a rayed cross laid upon a golden ground. At each of the four corners, vines spring up from a double-handed vase, the body of which is divided into two decorated zones. Three bands of ornament border the vault: the first is a forked pattern worked in three colors, the second is a row of hollow, eight-pointed stars, each with a white dot inside, and the third is a series of rhomboids separated from each other by a cross band of three jewels. The decoration has parallels in certain early Byzantine mosaics. On the southern and northern walls of the chamber, under the vault, there are additional mosaic fragments. Local tradition suggests that the whole church was once adorned with mosaics, and that Tamerlane destroyed all of them except this small portion in the sanctuary. The southern sanctuary has a rectangular niche built into the eastern wall. In the third sanctuary a small door leads into a burial chamber containing an altar. To the west there are two more burial chambers, which are completely dark and approached by a door so small that is only just possible to squeeze through it.

Opposite to a door leading to Mor Gabriel's atrium is a large octagonal chamber known as the Dome of Theodora. On each of this remarkable building's eight sides, there is a large rectangular arched niche. Above the arches rises a shallow, brick-and-stone dome about 10.5 m in diameter. The dome is invisible from outside; the building’s exterior has the appearance of a square block with a flat roof. The current building is dated to the 6^th century AD and functioned as a baptistry. The aforementioned stone slab stands in the middle of this building; here, it was a table for preparing the monastery's bread, suggesting that the building also functioned as a kitchen at one time. A Syriac inscription on the slab indicates that it was made by Zechariah of ‘Ayn Wardo and that it was set in its place in year 776/77 AD. Since then, the stone slab seems to have switched location between Theodora's Dome and the nave of Mor Gabriel Church (where it also served a different function).

A second church, located at the western end of the monastery complex, is dedicated to the Virgin. It occupies two large blocks of buildings set around two courtyards. A long vaulted passageway leads from the atrium of Mor Gabriel to the small courtyard to the north of the Church of the Virgin. Along this courtyard's western side is a vaulted arcade from which a door leads into the church. Following the form of a basilica, the church interior is divided into three sections and is roofed with three parallel barrel vaults over the nave and aisles. On the northern side of the arcade, a small door leads into the crypt known as Beth Qadishe ('House of Saints'), where the tombs of several monks are located.

Remains of a third church dedicated to Mor Shemun are located in the vicinity of the complex, along with remains, to the monastery's north, of what is known as Dome of the Egyptians. This is a small octagonal domed chamber, square on the outside. The niches of the eight sides contained the tombs of various monks. The dome is similar to the Dome of Theodora. Further west is found the Great Cistern, still in use today, with its three vaults measuring 24 x 20 m.2

Buildings dating to the mid-20^th century and later:

As a result of a long series of raids, wars, famines, and persecutions in the area, the Monastery of Mor Gabriel was destroyed and deserted several times throughout its history. The latest episode of violence occurred when the monastery, along several others, was destroyed in the aftermath of the Kurdish uprising in 1926.3 Since then, it has been renovated, and several additions have been added to the original complex. The added features include a new roof for the Church of Mor Gabriel, along with two bell towers—one erected in 1971 and the other in 1979. A completely new wing was built to to house the sisters and the schoolmasters’ families as well as the schoolrooms and guest rooms. East of the monastery, a new vault has been built on ancient walls using traditional techniques. The recent renovations uncovered hidden ancient artifacts and spaces, including rooms located behind the Dome of Theodora and possibly a crypt under the Church of the Virgin.

• 1. Bell 1982, 6–10, 31–35; Hollerweger 1999, 60–91.
• 2. Hollerweger 1999, 67.
• 3. Palmer 1999, 46.