About The Chapel of Saint Paul in Damascus, Syria:
The chapel was built in 1922 and 1923 , during the period of French administration, to a design by the then director of the French Institute of Archaeology and Muslim Art, Count Eustache de Lorey. It is located inside the arch of the gate of the old city walls of Damascus, called Bab Keisan . The gate, which had been built by Nur-ar-Din in the second half of the 12th century, was the place through which, according to tradition, Saint Paul fled from Damascus.
After encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus and being healed of blindness, Saul converted to Christianity and was baptized by Saint Ananias. Saul immediately began preaching…
“And immediately he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. And all who heard him were amazed, saying, “Is not this he who persecuted those who called on the Holy Name in Jerusalem, and came here to bring them bound to the chief priests?” (Acts 9:20-21), describing Saul (later Paul) immediately preaching Jesus as the Son of God in Damascus synagogues after his conversion. Listeners were amazed, questioning if he was the same man who destroyed Christians in Jerusalem and intended to arrest believers there.
Acts 9:
21 “All his hearers were amazed, and said, ‘Surely, this is the man who did such damage in Jerusalem to the people who invoke this name, and who came here for the sole purpose of arresting them to have them tried by the chief priests?”
22 “Saul’s power increased steadily, and he was able to throw the Jewish colony at Damascus into complete confusion by the way he demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ”.
23 “Some time passed, and the Jews worked out a plot to kill him”,
24 “but news of it reached Saul. They were keeping watch at the gates day and night in order to kill him,”
25 “but the disciples took him by night and let him down from the wall, lowering him in a basket”.
26 “When he got to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him: they could not believe he was really a disciple”.
27 “Barnabas, however, took charge of him, introduced him to the apostles, and explained how the Lord had appeared to him and spoken to him on his journey, and how he had preached fearlessly at Damascus in the name of Jesus”.
28 “Saul now started to go round with them in Jerusalem, preaching fearlessly in the name of the Lord”.
29 “But after he had spoken to the Hellenists and argued with them, they became determined to kill him”.
30 “When the brothers got to know of this, they took him to Caesarea and sent him off from there to Tarsus”.
31 “The churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up and living in the fear of the Lord; encouraged by the Holy Spirit, they continued to grow”.
32 “It happened that Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to God’s holy people living down in Lydda”.
33 “There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years”.
34 “Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you: get up and make your bed.’ Aeneas got up immediately”;
35 “everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they were converted to the Lord”.
36 “At Jaffa there was a disciple called Tabitha, or in Greek, Dorcas, who never tired of doing good or giving to those in need”.
37 “But it happened that at this time she became ill and died, and they washed her and laid her out in an upper room”.
38 “Lydda is not far from Jaffa, so when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to urge him, ‘Come to us without delay.’ ”
39 “Peter went back with them immediately, and on his arrival they took him to the upper room, where all the widows stood round him in tears, showing him tunics and other clothes Dorcas had made when she was with them”.
40 “Peter sent everyone out of the room and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to the dead woman and said, ‘Tabitha, stand up.’ She opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up”.
41 “Peter helped her to her feet, then he called in the members of the congregation and widows and showed them she was alive”.
42 “The whole of Jaffa heard about it and many believed in the Lord”.
43 “Peter stayed on some time in Jaffa, lodging with a leather-tanner called Simon”.
Note: Saul did not formally change his name to Paul; rather, he held both names—Saul (Hebrew) and Paul (Roman), from birth. The transition in the Book of Acts from using “Saul” to “Paul” occurs in Acts 13:9 during his first missionary journey, as he begins to focus on Gentile audiences.
Paul hid in a house near the walls and, hiding in a basket, at night, had himself lowered out of the city from a window of the gate called Bab Keisan , thus escaping capture. According to popular tradition, the basket in which Paul was found was supported by the Archangel Gabriel.
And after many days had passed, the Jews all gathered together to kill him; but this became known to Saul, and they kept watch at the gates day and night to kill him; but the disciples in the darkness let him down in a basket through the wall. » ( Acts of the Apostles ), 10-19
It stands a short distance from the underground Chapel of Saint Anania.