Hagia Sophia Church and Icon Museum, Saidnaya

A church on Ras al-Amud Square in the centre of Saidnaya, below the monastery of Our Lady. The reason to go is the museum inside: according to the parish priest, Father Andraos Iskandafi, speaking in April 2022, it displays 65 historic icons and about 25 manuscripts. The museum had opened roughly two years before that. Our sources do not give the church’s construction date or which denomination it belongs to; ask at the entrance.

Getting there

Saidnaya is about thirty kilometres north of Damascus, forty-five minutes by car. The church sits at the foot of the rock that carries the monastery of Our Lady, about 100 metres south-west of the monastery according to OpenStreetMap. Walking down from the monastery takes a few minutes. The location could not be confirmed by two independent sources, so the page has no map.

What is in the museum

65 icons and about 25 manuscripts. The icons have been restored, and each has its own label written in three languages. The source does not say which periods they come from or which languages the labels use.

The church itself is worth a look. Photographs from 2020 show a cut-stone front with quatrefoil windows and a domed bell tower beside it. Inside, stone arches run the length of the nave, and the inner face of the dome is painted with coloured figures.

How long it takes

Forty minutes is enough. It fits easily into the same visit as the monastery of Our Lady.

Feasts and the current situation

The town has its own Hagia Sophia feast; with the feasts of Our Lady (al-Sayyida) and the Cross (al-Salib), it is one of Saidnaya’s three feasts. According to the Syrian news site Snack Syrian, in August 2026 the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic parish committees in the town cancelled outdoor celebrations of all three, citing arrests of local people and poor security. Services continue inside the churches. The museum’s visiting hours have not been verified in the past twelve months.

What most people miss

The inscription in the pediment of the front. The church’s Arabic name, آيا صوفيا, is carved into the stone below a cross. With no map, that inscription and the domed bell tower beside it are the easiest way to pick out the church from the square.