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Maaloula

File:-From_Chapel_of_St_Tekla_-_panoramio.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ740804· pop 49· linked from 405 articles

Also known as Ma'loula, Ma'lula, Maʻlūlā, Maʿlūlā

Maaloula (; ) is a town in southwestern Syria. The town is located in the Rif Dimashq Governorate and is 56 km northeast of Damascus, and is built into the mountainside at an altitude of more than 1,500m. It is known as one of three remaining villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken, the other two being the nearby smaller villages of Jubb'adin and Bakha

OverviewAI-generated

Maaloula, also known by its native name معلولا, is a village and archaeological site located in Syria. It is situated within the Ma'loula Subdistrict and the Rif-dimashq governorate. The settlement has a population of 2,762, though other records list it as 5,000. It stands at an elevation of 1,500 meters above sea level, with other measurements indicating 1,390 or 1,426 meters.

The village is designated as a Tentative World Heritage Site. It is located in the Asia/Damascus time zone, corresponding to UTC+02:00. Maaloula is referenced by 405 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 43 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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cached 15h ago
14°clear sky
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via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality
معلولا
Region
محافظة ريف دمشق
Country
سوريا
Population
5,000
Timezone
Asia/Damascus

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

51US AQIModerate
PM2.5
8.0 µg/m³
PM10
14.9 µg/m³
As of 2026-08-11 04:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

Settlement.official_name
Maaloula
Settlement.other_name
-
Settlement.settlement_type
Town
Settlement.image_skyline
-From Chapel of St Tekla - panoramio.jpg
Settlement.imagesize
250px
Settlement.image_caption
Overview of Maaloula, 2006
Settlement.pushpin_map
Syria
Settlement.pushpin_label_position
bottom
Settlement.pushpin_mapsize
250
Settlement.pushpin_map_caption
Location in Syria
Settlement.subdivision_type
Country
Settlement.subdivision_name
Syria
Settlement.subdivision_type1
Governorate
Settlement.subdivision_name1
Rif Dimashq
Settlement.subdivision_type2
District
Settlement.subdivision_name2
al-Qutayfah
Settlement.subdivision_type3
Subdistrict
Settlement.subdivision_name3
Maaloula

via Wikipedia infobox

~7 min read

Encyclopedic overview

16 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • History
  • Civil war
  • Demographics
  • Language
  • Monasteries
  • Saint Sarkis Monastic Complex
  • Convent of Saint Thecla
  • Other monasteries
  • Virgin Mary statue
  • Climate
  • Sister city
  • See also
  • References
  • Bibliography
  • External links

Maaloula (; ) is a town in southwestern Syria. The town is located in the Rif Dimashq Governorate and is 56 km northeast of Damascus, and is built into the mountainside at an altitude of more than 1,500m. It is known as one of three remaining villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken, the other two being the nearby smaller villages of Jubb'adin and Bakha

==Etymology== is said to derive from the Aramaic word , meaning "entrance". The name is romanized as Maaloula, Ma'loula, Maalula, Ma'lula, Malula. However, "Maaloula" is the most common.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Maaloula” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (8)

On the map

5 mapped locations