+SYRIA AND THE EAST.+ In Syria, particularly the central portion, the Christian architecture of the 3d to 8th centuries produced a number of very interesting monuments. The churches built by Constantine in Syria--the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (nominally built by his mother), of the Ascension at Jerusalem, the magnificent octagonal church on the site of the Temple, and finally the somewhat similar church at Antioch--were the most notable Christian monuments in Syria. The first three on the list, still extant in part at least, have been so altered by later additions and restorations that their original forms are only approximately known from early descriptions. They were all of large size, and the octagonal church on the Temple platform was of exceptional magnificence.[16] The columns and a part of the marble incrustations of the early design are still visible in the “Mosque of Omar,” but most of the old work is concealed by the decoration of tiles applied by the Moslems, and the whole interior aspect altered by the wood-and-plaster dome with which they replaced the simpler roof of the original. [Footnote 16: Fergusson (_History of Architecture_, vol. ii., pp. 408, 432) contends that this was the real Constantinian church of the Holy Sepulchre, and that the one called to-day by that name was erected by the Crusaders in the twelfth century. The more general view is that the latter was originally built by Constantine as the Church of the Sepulchre, though subsequently much altered, and that the octagonal edifice was also his work, but erected under some other name. Whether this church was later incorporated in the “Mosque of Omar,” or merely furnished some of the materials for its construction, is not quite clear.] [Illustration: FIG. 69.--CHURCH AT KALB LOUZEH.]