Along with the dynamic revival of Islamic institutions, Christian churches and monasteries experienced a renaissance of their own. New cycles of wall paintings were commissioned, the like of which had not been witnessed in Syria since the frescoes of the Umayyad period. Deir Mar Yakub (Monastery of St Jacob) and Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi (Monastery of St Moses the Ethiopian) survive as excellent examples of medieval Christian art and Syrian monasticism.