The long stairway
A climb to the arches.
Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hayk.arabaget — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 3.0
Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery is a patriarchal monastery of the Greek Orthodox Church in the town of Saidnaya, north of Damascus, and among the oldest monasteries in the world and the Middle East. It is run by a religious order of nuns. It stands on a high rock mass above the town and from afar looks like a stone fortress, with its walls and stairways. Tradition holds that the Byzantine emperor Justinian I founded it in 547 after a vision of the Virgin Mary during a hunt near Saidnaya. It has remained an important destination for Christian pilgrims through the centuries, above all for an icon known as the Shaghoura, attributed by tradition to Saint Luke and kept behind a silver door. You climb a long stairway to white stone buildings with arches, and notice the bell tower and open terraces. The main chapel has a carved wooden screen and many icons, while the pilgrimage shrine stands apart from it. From the top you see the town and the surrounding hills. This is a working monastery, so keep quiet and do not photograph inside without permission. It is about 22 km in a straight line from the Old City of Damascus and about 23 km from Maaloula. A car is the best way there. Wear modest clothing that covers the shoulders and knees, and lower your voice inside the buildings. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Syria, and British consular help is not available there, so check official guidance before making any plans.
A climb to the arches.
Above the white buildings.
Hills around Saidnaya.
Saidnaya town, Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria
Do not photograph inside the chapel and shrine without permission, while outside is easier, with respect for the nuns and pilgrims.
Yes, Maaloula is about 23 km away in a straight line.