Syrian Catholic Church of Mar Assiya (formerly of Our Lady (as-Sayyida)

[Picture source: © 2007 Stefan Weber]

This was the fifth shrine which della Valle visited, noting that it was “built after our manner with three naves”. It lay outside the churches’ square (bahat al-kanaʾis), to the north of the Yasmin Gate suq street (suq bawwabat al-yasmin). Bishop Idlibi explains this separation from the other churches by the influx of Jacobites to Aleppo from other parts of Syria and Mesopotamia during the 15^th century, caused by the devastations of Tamerlane’s campaigns around 1400, making it at that time probably the biggest Christian Community in town and in need of a larger church than the others.[1] 

The existence of Jacobite clergy in Aleppo, and therefore probably a church as well, is documented in a marginal note dated 1475 in a manuscript preserved in the library of the Jacobite monastery in Jerusalem.[2] Another manuscript notice from 1510 confirms the existence of a church dedicated to Our Lady (as-Sayyida) for the Jacobite community in Aleppo (Fig. 10).[3]

The Jacobite community in Aleppo split into Orthodox and Catholic branches during the 18^th century, with repercussions for the control of the community’s institutions. In the middle of the century, an effort to repair of the church’s roof prompted the Ottoman authorities to intervene, closing it and asking for the payment of an important fine (or bribe). The Catholic branch, with the help of Aleppo’s other Catholic communities , was able to pay and since then managed to control the church.[4] 

Toward the middle of the 19^th century, important reconstruction projects had been initiated, but during the 1850 disturbances, the whole ensemble (church, school, and living quarters of archbishop and clergy) burned down and had to be restored. Built on an unusually large block (32 by 16 metres), the church in its present form displays a self-consciously “Syrian” or “neo-Mamluk” architectural style (Fig. 11) (Fig. 12).

The church was the seat of the Syrian Catholic archdiocese until the building of a new cathedral in 1970. Its original dedication to Our Lady (as-Sayyida) was transferred to the new church and the old building was renamed to honour the Syrian saint, Assiya al-Hakim.

Damage reported to the church in the 2012-17 conflict included the loss of its belfry, originally constructed in 1881. The church itself suffered light damage in 2012 as a result of shelling, probably a secondary result of explosions causing the collapse of the historic Bayt Ajiqbash, immediately to the east.

Figure 10: Syrian Catholic Church of Mar Assiya, entrance with inscription commemorating restoration in 1852 [Picture source: © 2006 Stefan Weber]