ABSTRACT
This article offers a new approach to the study of paintings from four churches in the Qadisha Valley, Lebanon, including the paintings of Deir es-Salib and Saydet Qannubine, where a large part of the paintings are still in situ—albeit in a bad state of preservation; those in the church of Mart Shmuni, which were destroyed in the 1980s and are only known from photographs and the small fragments still visible today; and the paintings in the church of Deir Mar Asya, where the only remaining parts require immediate conservation. The focus here will be on the plaster used in these paintings, especially from the church of Deir es-Salib as it reveals many phases of intervention. Comparing the paintings and their iconography will also help define their styles and establish their dating.
