St George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Latakia

The cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Latakia and the largest church in the city. It stands in the centre, on the north side of Souq al-Sagha, the goldsmiths’ souq. An older church once stood on the site; the present building went up between 1936 and 1940, paid for by donations from the congregation. Its three domes rise above the surrounding buildings.

Where it is

The cathedral sits on the north edge of Souq al-Sagha, about 20 m west of Shukri al-Quwatli Street. The Soufan Mosque is about 100 m to the north-east. Two much older churches are in the same quarter: St Nicholas, about 300 m to the east, and right beside it the Armenian Church of the Holy Virgin. The city’s other Greek Orthodox church, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, is about 400 m to the west on al-Mutanabbi Street.

What happened to the earlier church?

Nobody knows when the church on this site was first built. According to Arabic Wikipedia, its walls had cracked and it was repaired in 1723. Inside it was a separate altar dedicated to Martha and Theodore; in the renovation of 1848 that altar was demolished and absorbed into the church. Another Arabic article dates the building to the year 275, but gives no source for it.

How the present building came about

The church was rebuilt from scratch during the French Mandate, under Metropolitan Tryphon. German Wikipedia puts the construction in 1936–1940. The building gives its own completion date: two marble plaques on its walls carry verses about the rebuilding, and the last line of one of them reads 1940. According to Arabic Wikipedia, the plaques are on the south and west walls.

What to see

The cathedral is built of pale stone on a rectangular plan. A large pointed dome rises from the middle of the flat roof, with two smaller domes at the west end. A narrow strip runs round the whole roof edge, about half a storey lower than the central section. The west front has five large round-arched windows, with a pair of narrow windows at each end.

How long it takes

Half an hour. Its current status has not been verified: no source specific to the cathedral from the past year could be found. Whether you can go inside, and the times of services, need asking at the door.

Don’t miss

The marble plaque dated 1940. The last line under the verses gives the name Latakia and the year 1940, the shortest route to the date the cathedral was rebuilt.