DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45584#0062
Nimreh.
343
of note are the church at the extreme western end of the town, and a large and much
ruined monastery on the farther bank of the wadi to the north of Nimreh.
Church. The church and the group of residential buildings to the west and
northwest of it preserve enough of their original structure to permit the tracing of a
ground plan, and the arches and walls that are standing afford ample material for
satisfactory restoration. The plan of the church (Ill. 308), though suggesting that of
the church at Tafha published by M. de Vogue,1 2 is longer and more of the’ true
basilical form. The east end is deeply buried in earth and dung, but a fragment of
wall rises above the debris at a point where several of the older inhabitants of the
village say the building terminated. On the same authority I have it that the east
wall was straight. There was probably an apse within the flat east wall, with chambers
NIMREH- CHVRCH·
Ill. 308.
on either side of it as I have shown in the plan. Directly west of the probable location
of the apse there stand two superposed arches which spanned the south aisle, and
beyond this are three well preserved sets of transverse arches that appear in my pho-
tograph (Ill. 309). West of these arches two wall-piers and the foundations of two
free standing piers are preserved, and beyond this, the main west wall of the church,
so that there must have been six bays in all. This longitudinal system of arches for
the support of a flat stone roof above a three-aisled nave, was taken directly from the
Pagan basilica at Shakka,3 and is a parallel to the well-known church at Tafha. The
chief differences between this example and those at Shakka and Tafha are that the
narrow longitudinal arches between the piers of the basilica at Shakka are omitted, and
that the two storeys of arches over the side aisles are narrower than at Tafha. From
1 5. C. Pl. 17.
2 5. C. Pl. 15.
343
of note are the church at the extreme western end of the town, and a large and much
ruined monastery on the farther bank of the wadi to the north of Nimreh.
Church. The church and the group of residential buildings to the west and
northwest of it preserve enough of their original structure to permit the tracing of a
ground plan, and the arches and walls that are standing afford ample material for
satisfactory restoration. The plan of the church (Ill. 308), though suggesting that of
the church at Tafha published by M. de Vogue,1 2 is longer and more of the’ true
basilical form. The east end is deeply buried in earth and dung, but a fragment of
wall rises above the debris at a point where several of the older inhabitants of the
village say the building terminated. On the same authority I have it that the east
wall was straight. There was probably an apse within the flat east wall, with chambers
NIMREH- CHVRCH·
Ill. 308.
on either side of it as I have shown in the plan. Directly west of the probable location
of the apse there stand two superposed arches which spanned the south aisle, and
beyond this are three well preserved sets of transverse arches that appear in my pho-
tograph (Ill. 309). West of these arches two wall-piers and the foundations of two
free standing piers are preserved, and beyond this, the main west wall of the church,
so that there must have been six bays in all. This longitudinal system of arches for
the support of a flat stone roof above a three-aisled nave, was taken directly from the
Pagan basilica at Shakka,3 and is a parallel to the well-known church at Tafha. The
chief differences between this example and those at Shakka and Tafha are that the
narrow longitudinal arches between the piers of the basilica at Shakka are omitted, and
that the two storeys of arches over the side aisles are narrower than at Tafha. From
1 5. C. Pl. 17.
2 5. C. Pl. 15.