Baptistery of the Cathedral of Saint John

The city of Jbeil[1], conquered by the Crusaders in 1104, was the stronghold of the Genoese family of Embriaco, who became lords of Embriac, one of the most influential families of the County of Tripoli. Saint John Cathedral was built in the first half of the twelfth century, circa 1115. Devastated by an earthquake in 1170, the entire east side of the church was destroyed down to its foundations. According to C. Enlart, the baptistery dates back to around 1200. However, this dating has been contested by P. Deschamps due to the fact that it is located on the north side of the cathedral, which was spared by the earthquake. Furthermore, the decoration is similar to that of the cornices of the apses, also spared in 1170.

Built of limestone, the baptistery is in the shape of a cube, covered by a cupola on pendentifs. Squat pillars with billet-adorned transoms support three pointed arches whose ceiling panels are decorated, to the west with saw-toothed embellishments, to the north with cushions and to the east with billets and saw-toothed embellishments sculpted with various designs (crosses, small flowers, stars). The cornice, decorated with a frieze of ovum convex moulding, in cross section a quarter of a circle or an ellipse ovum, an egg-shaped ornament, rests on modillions made up of leaves with curved tips, like those of the capitals on the church pillars. To the east, the space between the modillions is also sculpted with rosette and star patterns.

The shape and several decorative elements of the baptistery are evidence of the exchanges between the two shores of the Mediterranean. Its cupola on pendentifs is reminiscent of Oriental and Byzantine buildings. Its overall shape could have been influenced by pavilions such as the Cubola in Palermo (twelfth century), and is found in a few domed fountains, such as those of the Great Mosque of Alep (tenth century) and the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, built by Mamluk sultan Lajin in 1296.

As to its decorative style, it is, according to C. Enlart, a local interpretation of Roman art, and may denote an Italian influence. This is not surprising, as the city of Jbeil belonged to the Genoese estate. Of Norman origin[2], the saw-tooth design was brought by the Crusaders. The modillions have their counterpart in the Church of Santo Sepolcro at Barletta, in Puglia, in the south of Italy (eleventh - twelfth centuries). As to the cushions, they are found in France, in Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Church in Jazennes (Charente-Maritime, twelfth century), Marignac Church (Charente, twelfth century), and Saint-Pierre-au-Parvis Church in Soissons (Aisne, twelfth century), but also in Sicily at Palermo, in the Church of Martorana and the aedicule of Cubola (twelfth century) and in Seljukide Anatolia. However, these were used prior by the Fatimid on the towers flanking the Bab al-Futuh door in Cairo, built between 1087 and 1091 by Syrian architects from Edessa. They are later found in Ayyubid and Mamluk architecture, in the Baybars and Qala’un monuments in Cairo (end of the thirteenth century), as well as in monuments in Damascus[3].

[2] Church of Saint-Etienne and Trinity Church, Caen, 1065-1077 and 1062-1130

[3] Al-Tawrizi Mosque, Damascus, fifteenth century