Um al-Zunnar Church

The church of Um al-Zunnar - Our Lady of the Belt - is the seat of Syriac Orthodox Homs and one of the oldest continuously used Christian sites anywhere: an underground chapel beneath the church is held by tradition to date from the year 59, and the church's great relic is a woven belt venerated as the Virgin's, rediscovered sealed in the altar in 1953. The present building above is nineteenth-century, rebuilt after damage in the 2010s, and the congregation's return is part of its story.

What you actually see

• The relic of the Belt - the venerated woven band in its shrine.
• The underground chapel - the ancient room beneath the church.
• The rebuilt nave - the restored nineteenth-century church.
• The old quarter - the Christian lanes of central Homs.

When to go

March to May and October to November are mild. Sunday services are the living heart of the place - visit around them respectfully. Feast days bring crowds.

Honest expectations

This is a working cathedral, not a museum; access to the relic and crypt depends on clergy being present. The quarter around it still shows damage and rebuilding. Dress conservatively.

Nearby

Khalid ibn al-Walid mosque is across the city centre, and Krak is west.