Porches et narthex dans les églises médiévales du Liban

Abstract

As part of the architectural heritage workshops of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, a group of churches dating back to the medieval and Ottoman eras were identified and analyzed. A lot of these churches have porches that project beyond their volumes, a typology which has proven to be very rare, being limited for around forty churches out of the several hundred in Lebanon. These porches, which are mostly characterized by the poverty of their design and architecture, do not seem to play any liturgical role of the first order and their function seems to be limited to a simple transitional space between the nave and the outer space. It is in this context that the present article will seek to study these porches in their architectural, structural and functional aspect.

Keywords

• porch
• narthex
• church
• medieval
• lebanon