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Butler, Howard Crosby
Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria in 1899 - 1900 (Band 2): Architecture and other arts — New York, 1903

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0165
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CHURCHES

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below the volutes at the angles; the other is a round, bell-shaped sort, with deep
grooves, like the flutings of an Ionic column, cut perpendicularly in the echinus. Upon
the neck of the capital, below the flutings, is a narrow
bead-and-reel molding. The abacus is rectangular
and quite plain. The exterior ornamentwas confined
to the two south portals, both of which are in ruitis.

They were substantially like those of the two churches
described below. Upon the easternmost of the two
lintels is the inscription which gives the date, and the
narne of the tsxvtxYjc, or architect, Markianos Kyris.

The south side of the church faces a large cloister
court, entered through a broad arch in a high wall at
the west. At the southwest angle of the cloister Fluted capital of 'East Church at Babiska.
court is a tower of two stories; along its southern side are the remains of a portico of
rectangular piers, which formed the fagade of the clerical residences. At the southeast
angle was another tower, adjoining which, on the east side of the court, was a build-
ing of considerable importance, which, by comparison with the arrangement of other
cloisters in the region, may be called a baptistery. Although tlfls building has been
almost completely demolished and carried away by the present inhabitants of the
neighboring village of Sermeda, it still preserves, in its portal (or liad preserved in
April, 1900), one of the most remarkable monuments of its time, a monumental portal

1.65 m. by 2.25 m. in the clear,
with jambs built up in five courses,
and a gigantic lintel 3.90 m. long
and 1.24 m. high, framed in a
broad set of deep moldings inter-
spersed with bands of rich orna-
ment and surmounted by a minia-
ture arcade of nine niches in relief,
the slender colonnettes of which
rested upon the upper molding of
the lintel. The innermost mold-
ings consist of three narrow bands,
separated along the jambs by a
bead-and-reel molding; then comes
a deep scotia, outside of which is a
heavy chain ornament with a small
cross in the center, above the open-
ing. Outside of this is the broad
central band of ornament, a classic-

Doorway at east end of cloister court of East Church at Babiska.
 
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