Life in Syria's 'Sacred' Christian Community (Maaloula, Syria)

This is Maaloula, Syria, a sacred Christian town, where to this day, Aramaic (the language of Jesus Christ) is still spoken. This beautiful village perched high above the deserts of south western Syria has been home to a Christian community & a been a pilgrimage site for centuries. However, this once thriving, unique village of almost 7,000 people hit World headlines in 2013 for all the wrong reasons. Maaloula was invaded by Al-Nusra (a branch of Al-Qaida), and an ethnic cleansing began. Long-term neighbours turned on one another as the villages 5,000 strong Christian community were captured, tor tured and even k illed, and nearly all of the villages Christian artefacts were destroyed. Some people managed to escape & flee the violence to Damascus, including our guide Manar and her young family. When the village was eventually retaken by the Syrian government, there wasn't many, if anybody, left living here. But bit by bit, this place is coming back to life. A small amount of past residents have returned to preserve their culture, history and language. We travelled to Maaloula to discover more about the unique place & its people. This is their story. - Join this channel to become a member and get access to these perks:    / @mattandjulia   ❤️ - Support our channel HERE 😊 -   / mattandjulia   https://buymeacoffee.com/mattandjulia Our Travel Gear - https://www.mattandjulia.co.uk/our-gear We get all of our music for our vlogs from Epidemic Sound - 30 DAYS FREE HERE - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referra... We make all of our thumbnails HERE - https://partner.canva.com/c/2604310/6... - For business enquiries - [email protected] You can also, find us here: WEBSITE: https://mattandjulia.co.uk INSTAGRAM:   / julia.chernogorova   PATREON:   / mattandjulia   BUYMEACOFFEE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattandj... TIKTOK:   / mattandjuliatravel   YOUTUBE:    / mattandjulia   TWITTER:   / matt_and_julia   🎵 Music: All the music in this video comes from here: http://share.epidemicsound.com/freemusic