Michele Borzoni

Inshallah: Christians communities in the Middle East

exhibition
Inshallah is a long-term project on the Arab Christian communities of the Middle East. Over recent years, there has been a dramatic drop of Christian presence in those places where the first Christian communities were born two thousand years ago. About 5% of the population in the Middle East is Christian, and in the twentieth century this number was further reduced due to various reasons, including the growing instability of the region.

Inshallah is a long-term project on the Arab Christian communities of the Middle East.
Over recent years, there has been a dramatic drop of Christian presence in those places where the first Christian communities were born two thousand years ago. About 5% of the population in the Middle East is Christian, and in the twentieth century this number was further reduced due to various reasons, including the growing instability of the region.

View of Mardin, an old city overlooking the plains of Mesopotamia close to the Syrian border. There are some 600 Christians living in Mardin and 11 churches.
Mass celebration in the Coptic cathedral with the Coptic Pope Shenouda III.
Coptic Christian family praying before lunch in the Coptic neighborhood in Cairo.
Mass celebration in the Cave Church in Garbage City, this is the biggest church of the Middle East.
View of Garbage City where the Zabbaleen Christian population collect and recycle all the garbage of Cairo.
Members of the Christian militia patrolling the entrance to a church in the Christian town of Qaraqosh. The municipality of Qaraqosh has organized Christian militia in the city of Qaraqosh in order to protect the population from terroristic attacks.
Protective walls at the entrance of the Ishater TV, a Christian television based in Ankawa, Erbil.
Pilgrims waiting at the entrance of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem during Good Friday.
Mass in St. George's church in Istanbul, the religious seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Celebration of the Holy Fire in the Ethiopian section of the Holy Sepulchre.
Christians pilgrims in Qasir Al Yahud, the new baptismal site near Jericho in Palestine on the border with Jordan
Christian pilgrims in the Church of the Holy Sepulcre in Jerusalem during the Holy week.
View of the old abandoned houses of Smakieh, a small town in the Jordan desert inhabitated by two Christian families.
A Christian Syrian refugee is working in a relogous statue shop in Chikka, on the way to Kadisha Valley.
View of the Tigris river from the new bridge in Hasankeyf.
Mihayel Akyuz, 26, one of Father Gabriel's 13 sons, in Kirklar Kilisesi Church of the 40 Martyrs in Mardin.
View of the Cave Church in Garbage City. This church is the largest church in the Middle East.
Worshippers praying at the grave of St. Gabriel in the MorGabriel monastery on the Tur Abdin plateau. Every Saturday night the monks who live in the monastery pray in the crypt for the 2,000 monks buried there.
Night mass celebration to commemorate the death of Anba Bishoi in the same monastery.
Maronite priests in waiting for the statue of the Virgin Mary coming from the sanctuary of Harissa.
View of Qaraqosh, a Christian town on the border between Iraq and Kurdistan with seven churches. The municipality of Qaraqosh has been organizing a Christian militia in the city of Qaraqosh in order to protect the population from terroristic assoults.
Children having lunch in the orphanage in the Monastery of the Virgin Mary in Al Qosh. The orphanage was opened in 1949 and at the moment 19 boys between 4 and 16 years old are living in there.
Ruins of an abandoned church in Hah, a Christian village on the Tur Abdin plateau.
Restaurant in Garbage City in front of the Cave Church, where the Zabbaleen Christian population collect and recycle all the garbage of Cairo.
Father Josef celebrating Mass on Sunday in the Syriac Virgin Mary Church of Diyarbakir, Kurdistan, Turkey. According to the 1869 census there were some 21,000 people living in Dyiarbakir. 9,900 were Muslim and the remaining were of Christian faith. Today there are only six Christian families living in the city.
Greek Orthodox Christians during the Palm Sunday in East Jerusalem celebrating the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem.
View of a church in Midyat. There are currently four churches here.
Greek Orthodox Christians during the Palm Sunday in East Jerusalem celebrating the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem.
Keyrolos Melad, 11 years old, in Garbage City, a Coptic Christian neighborhood in Cairo, collector and recycler of paper.
Decorations on a house of Alqosh, Christian town in the Nineveh Plain, in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Security check-point to enter the Coptic cathedral for the Mass with Pope Shenouda III.
Checkpoints at the entrance of Qaraqosh, a Christian town on the border between Iraq and Kurdistan. The city of Qaraqosh organized an armed Christian militia together with the Kurdish army and the Iraqi police in order protects the city from sectarian terrorist attacks.
Billiard room in a Christian caffee bar in Beit Sahour, a Christian town in the outskirt of Bethlehem.
Al-Tahira Church, Syriac Catholic church choir in Qaraqosh, a Christian town on the border between Iraq and Kurdistan.
Christian feast in honor of St. Markriakoz in Qaraqosh, patron of the city.
View of the separation wall in Bethlehem.
Deyrul Zafran monastery near Mardin. From the 5th century on, this Syriac Orthodox monastery was the headquarters of the Syriac patriarchate until 1932 when it moved to Damascus in Syria.
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