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

4io CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE IN THE DJEBEL HAURAN

arch walls were built up to a level with the side walls, and that a broad corbel course
was laid upon the top of each arch wall, projecting on either side of it; upon these

were laid the long, narrow slabs
which formed the flat roof of the
building. This was undoubtedly
covered with beaten clay and
made quite water-tight.

The photographs of this church,
as may be seen, give a very differ-
ent impression of it from that
given by the drawings in “ La
Syrie Centrale,” which showwalls
and arches constructed of fine
ashler, not unlike that of the
churches of Northern Syria. The
photographs show what small
proportions of dressed stone were
used in this building. On the

Interior of church at Tafha, looking northwest. ... r . . .

extenor lt is conhned to the lower
half of the west wall and to the frames of doorways and windows, except where an
occasional block is used with the ordinary roughly quadrated building stones of differ-

Interior of church at Tafha, looking toward apse.