Church of Saint Simeon Stylites

Northwest of Aleppo, on a hill above the plain. At its centre stands the stump of a pillar: in the fifth century an ascetic named Simeon lived on top of it for thirty-seven years, and when he died the empire raised four basilicas around his column. What resulted was the largest church complex of its age — completed about half a century before Hagia Sophia.

Getting there

About thirty kilometres northwest of Aleppo by the Daret Azza road; an hour by car. The final climb starts at Deir Semaan, the village at the foot of the hill, where pilgrims once began the same walk.

How long it takes

An hour and a half. The site is wide and unshaded; that is the time it takes to walk the four basilicas, the octagonal court and the baptistery on the south side.

What is there

Four basilicas are set in a cross around an octagonal court. Much of the arcading and carved stone is still standing, and the facade of the northern basilica is the best-preserved part of the complex. The baptistery to the south is among the soundest late antique examples anywhere. The site was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2011 as part of the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, and was damaged in an airstrike in 2016.

What most people miss

The worn boulder in the middle of the octagonal court. That is the pillar itself: pilgrims chipped pieces from it for centuries until it shrank to this. It is easy to walk past without noticing.