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Спасение раннехристианских храмов Сирии
In the course of three expeditions of the Institute for the History of Material Culture (IHMC) RAS in 2021, archaeological
investigations at 16 Early Byzantine churches in eight populated areas of Syria have been carried out.
±e expeditions worked at Madrasa Halawiyah in Aleppo, churches in Apamea, complexes of Deir al-Salib, Qasr Ibn
Wardan, the monastery in Burqush, temples of Eastern Hauran, Shaqra, Zora and Bosra. Materials for creation of
three-dimensional models of the interiors and exteriors of the investigated temples have been collected. Important
new evidence has been obtained for many sites.
As we have attempted to demonstrate, the main task to be solved by a detailed modelling of the previously investigated,
measured and described churches is in providing more exact data and documentation on these installations,
which have not been documented in detail earlier, and supplementing the reported measurements with new
data revealed during the period aer the last surveys. In particular, this concerns the documents on the façades and
masonries which had not been always carefully drawn (by contrast to plans) although they can correct our notions
on the architectural history of the buildings. Apparently, the work of this type is an indispensable routine adding new
information to already long ago established, as it seems, set of data familiar to researchers.
±e collected measurements expand and supplement the available information on the architecture of the sites
under consideration. ±e data obtained are precisely georeferenced and possess intrinsic reliability. On the basis of the
designed models, planigraphy, orthophotoplans of the façades and sections of the churches can be generated. Presently,
the accumulated material is under treatment and within the course of the current year will be published in the form of
digital three-dimensional models and graphic materials generated on their basis on a website of IHMC RAS.