MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) – The 10-foot high statue overlooks the town of Maaloula, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. A video where a statue of the Virgin Mary was demolished by a Muslim sheik went viral over the Internet in 2013, raising concern among Christian communities.

The former statue stood tall on the cliff until the war between the loyal forces of President Bashar Assad and the Nusra Front, an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Syria. With the battling forces finally out of the community, the new statue promises to bring peace to the people.

Now, the community, whose residents speak Aramaic, are trying to restore the religious artifacts previously taken down and destroyed, including some images of Jesus Christ.

"The statue was a symbol of protection for me, and when it was gone I felt a huge loss," said a pharmacist in a statement with the AFP, during the ceremony for the statue. Christians in the community and Syria as a whole have faced and continue to face violent persecution from Islamic extremist fighters.

Over the past two years of violence in the ancient Christian area, there have been thirteen nuns and three aides reportedly kidnapped from a convent located at Maaloula. After giving $4 million for ransom and after the Syrian army freed a captured radical Islamist, those kidnapped were released according to The Blaze.