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

CHURCHES

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verse arches, each set consisting of a broad arch above the middle aisle, a low narrow
arch over either side aisle, and, above this, a still smalter arch, on either side, which

Church at Tafha, from the southeast.

spanned the gallery. The main aisle terminated in an apse, the curve of which is an

ellipse with its major axis at right angles
to the longitudinal axis of the church.
Beside the north wall, at its western end,
stands a large tower, nearly a square in
plan, which rises in ruins to almost half
its height above the roof of the church.
This edifice stands in a remarkable state
of preservation: all the outer walls ex-
cepting a portion of the apse are intact;
all the transverse arches are still in place,
though one of them, that nearest the apse,
seems to have been rebuilt, perhaps in
Saracenic times, for it is slightly pointed ;
and the tower is almost complete. Only
the roofing slabs have fallen, filling up
the interior almost to the springing of the
arches. Only one of these slabs remains
in situ to tell us how the others were ar-
ranged. From this we may see that the

One bay of north aisle of church at Tafha, showing a roofing
slab in place.