page_title: Awtel
section_title: The Architecture and style
hierarchical_section_title: Awtel / Saint Awtel's Church, Kfarsghab / The Architecture and style
caption_attribution_description: English: St Awtel Church Layout
context_page_description: Saint Awtel was a monk of the 1st centuries of Christianity venerated in the Middle East. He is celebrated on 3 November, and on 9 October. A church is dedicated to him in the village of Kfarsghab in North-Lebanon where his feast day is celebrated on 3 June and 27 August.
context_section_description: The Church layout is that of old small Maronite churches, with a single apse and a single nave typical of the 12th and 13th centuries Maronite churches. The interior is divided according to Patriarch Estephan El Douaihy’s standard plan with minor differences due to the small size of the church.
  A plain rectangular shape is terminated at its Eastern side by a semicircular half-domed apse. The apse's vault is ornamented with paintings of angels/cherubims on a light blue background. The altar, made of white marble, is centred into the apse and pushed into its wall. The icon representing Saint Awtel is hanging above the altar in the middle of the apse. The altar is separated by few steps from the chancel, which in turn is separated from the nave by other few steps and an iron parapet.
  The nave is roofed by a series of crossed vaults. It is divided by an intricate wooden separation into two sections: the one in front reserved for men and the rear reserved for women. Each section has two ranks of natural wooden benches and its own thick wooden door. The wooden divider is a piece of delicate art and we know from the inscription commemorating its consecration that it was the work of a skilled artisan from Damietta, Egypt, a city still known today for its excellent wood artisans.
  A white coating covers the inside walls. Natural light comes through two narrow higher windows on the Southern wall and one lower window on the North wall.
  Three higher apertures can be seen on the western wall above the women's entrance: two rectangular narrow apertures and above them in the middle the third aperture made in white stone in the shape of a hexagram, a six-pointed star. The Women's door is encased into atypical heavy slabs of white limestone, and bears on the upper slab an unusual cross. The shape of the cross doesn't figure in the Maronite crosses tradition. It is a combination between a coptic cross and an Occitan cross. The Occitan cross is attributed to Raymond IV of Toulouse, whose family reigned in the county of Tripoli during the Crusades from 1109 till 1289 AD. Kfarsghab was administratively part of the county of Tripoli, which could be an explanation of the origin of this unusual cross.
  The men's door is also encased in heavy slabs of white limestone. The upper stone bears an engraving of a simple graded cross. A smaller stone has a chalice engraved on it. Then, an engraved white limestone plate tops the whole commemorating the extension of the church in 1776. The door is of heavy oak wood, engraved with biblical verses and a date of renovation in 1882.
  The flat roof and the roughly hewn stone of the outside walls give the church an aspect of simplicity and austerity. The bell tower situated at the northern edge of the roof slightly to the left of the main entrance is the example of this minimalistic style as it is formed by a simple stone arch housing a medium size cast iron bell.
  The church is surrounded by a vast square on the Northern and Western sides, cobbled in natural stone. The square is delimited by a natural stone parapet.
caption: St Awtel Church Layout
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