The Al-Qalis Church was a

Miaphysite Miaphysitism () is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one nature (''physis'', ). It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It differs from the Dyophysitism of the ...

Christian church constructed sometime between 527 and the late 560s in the city of

Sanaa Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

in modern-day

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. The church's lavish decorations made it an important place of pilgrimage, placing it in competition with

Kaaba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

. According to the

National Museum of Saudi Arabia The National Museum of Saudi Arabia () is a national museum located in the Al Murabba, al-Murabba neighborhood of Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1999,Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Abraha Abraha ( Ge’ez: አብርሃ) (also spelled Abreha, died presumably 570 CE) was an Aksumite military leader who controlled the Kingdom of Himyar (modern-day Yemen) and a large part of Arabia for over 30 years in the 6th century. Originally ...

built Al-Qullays in

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

. He also built a similar one in Najran for Bani Al-Harith, the House of Allat in Taif for the tribe of Thaqeef, the House of Yareem and the House of Ghamdan in

Background

In the aftermath of the massacre of the Christian community of

Najran Najran ( '), is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the capital of Najran Province. Today, the city of Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As of the 2022 census, the city population was 381,431, wi ...

by the ruler

Dhu Nuwas Dhū Nuwās (), real name Yūsuf Asʾar Yathʾar ( Musnad: 𐩺𐩥𐩪𐩰 𐩱𐩪𐩱𐩧 𐩺𐩻𐩱𐩧, ''Yws¹f ʾs¹ʾr Yṯʾr''), Yosef Nu'as (), or Yūsuf ibn Sharhabil (), also known as Masruq in Syriac, and Dounaas () in Medieval G ...

of the

Himyarite Kingdom Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qataban, Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According ...

, the Miaphysite King

Kaleb Kaleb (, Latin: Caleb), also known as Elesbaan (, ), was King of Aksum, which was situated in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Name Procopius calls him "Hellestheaeus," a variant of the Greek version of his regnal name, (''Histories'', 1.20 ...

Aksum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Regi ...

sought to avenge the deaths of his brothers in faith by launching a punitive expedition (520) into the Yemeni kingdom. Dhu Nuwas was deposed and killed, prompting Kaleb to appoint a Christian Himyarite,

Sumyafa Ashwa Sumyafa' Ashwa al-Yazani, also known as Esimiphaios (Latin: Esimiphaeus) in Syriac and Greek sources, was a vassal king of Himyar, ruling in the 6th century CE under the Aksumite Empire. He was also the viceroy of the Aksumite king Kaleb, who had ...

(Esimiphaios), as his viceroy. However, around 525 this viceroy was deposed by the Aksumite general

with support of Ethiopians who had settled in Yemen and withheld tribute to Kaleb. When Kaleb sent another expedition against Abraha this force defected, killing their commander, and joining Abraha. Another expedition sent against them met the same fate, leaving Yemen under Abraha's rule.

Construction

Abraha sought to promote Christianity in the predominantly Jewish kingdom while also attempting to antagonise the Kaaba in Mecca, a major religious centre for the adherents of Arab polytheism. Abraha, therefore, ordered the construction of the Al-Qalis Church (also known as Al-Qulays and Al-Qullays, from the Greek '' ekklēsía'') in Sanaa. Letters were sent to both Aksum and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, requesting marble, craftsmen and

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s. The absence of mosaic making tradition in

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...

and Ethiopia at the time, along with the frequent use of mosaicists by the Byzantines to achieve diplomatic objectives corroborates that the Byzantines complied. Historian

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

records that an envoy was dispatched to Abraha during the reign of emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

, placing the construction of the church between 527 and the late 560s. The church was constructed from green, yellow, white and black stone which was brought from an older castle located at

Marib Marib (; Ancient South Arabian script, Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of ''Saba’, Sabaʾ'' (), which some scholars beli ...

. Leading to the church was a marble staircase, while the door was made of bronze or copper. The church combined three separate architectural elements known as bayt,

iwan An iwan (, , also as ''ivan'' or ''ivān''/''īvān'', , ) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projecting ...

and qubbah. Iwan and qubbah, consisted of mosaic ornamentation of floral motives and gold star for the former, and

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

mosaic crosses, silver and gold for the latter. Taking into consideration a Byzantine edict issued in 427 prohibiting the placement of crosses to locations where they can be stepped upon, it is probable that the crosses were positioned on the walls. The rest of the decoration consisted of carved precious woods and ivory, combined with gold panels inset with precious stones and crosses. Chroniclers make no reference to figurative representations, a style commonly encountered in the

aniconic Aniconism is the cultural absence of artistic representations (''icons'') of the natural and supernatural worlds, or it is the absence of representations of certain figures in religions. The prohibition of material representations may only extend ...

Syrian and Palestinian mosaic traditions. The influence of the church as a place of pilgrimage may have been the reason behind the actions of Mecca's pagans who attempted to befoul the church. Between 552 and 555, Abraha organised a punitive expedition in response to this incident. In 685, the pretender to the throne of the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam (; May 624October/November 692) was the leader of a caliphate based in Mecca that rivaled the Umayyads from 683 until his death. The son of al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and grandson of ...

, removed three columns along with a number of mosaics from the church, with intention of using them in the redecoration of the

Great Mosque of Mecca Masjid al-Haram (), also known as the Sacred Mosque or the Great Mosque of Mecca, is considered to be the most significant mosque in Islam. It encloses the vicinity of the Kaaba in Mecca, in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia. It is among the ...

. This incident marks the first recorded use of mosaics in

Islamic architecture Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both Secularity, secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Muslim world, Islamic world encompasse ...

. The church is said to have survived at least until the reign of the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

caliph

Al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ‎; 714 – 6 October 775) usually known simply as by his laqab al-Manṣūr () was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 754 to 775 succeeding his brother al-Saffah (). He is known ...

(714–775) at which point it was looted once more.

References

;Citations ;Sources * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Qalis Church, Sanaa 6th-century churches 6th century in Asia Kingdom of Aksum Ancient history of Yemen Byzantine mosaics Churches in Yemen Eastern Christianity in Asia History of Sanaa Oriental Orthodox church buildings Pre-Islamic Arabia

Background

Construction

See also

References