Turkey - Late Antique and Medieval Churches and Monasteries of Midyat and Surrounding Area (Tur ʿAbdin)

 

The Church of Mor Sobo

 37°28'38.46"N - 41°36'33.04"E

Yoldath Aloho (Meryem Ana)

37°28'29.67"N - 41°36'34.23"E

The Monastery of Deyrul Zafaran

The Monastery of Mor Gabriel

The Monastery of Mor Abai

The Monastry of Mor Loozor

The Monastery of Mor Yakup at Ṣālaḥ (Barıştepe)

The Church of Mor Quryaqos at ʿUrdnus (Bağlarbaşı)

The Church of Mor ʿAzozoʾel at Kfarze (Altıntaş)

Midyat is located in the center of Tur ʿAbdin (meaning “the Mountain of the servants of God” in Syriac) region, a limestone plateau in south-eastern Turkey. The region is bounded by the River Tigris in the north and east, by the Mesopotamian plain in the south, and by the modern city of Mardin in the west. Stretching around 120 km. In east-west and 50 km, in north- south direction, the rural landscape covers eighty villages with approximately one hundred churches and seventy monasteries. This rural religious architecture belongs to the Syriac Orthodox community and its history goes back to the period when the region was under the Byzantine rule. Despite being within the boundaries of Muslim states since the 7th century, Tur ʿAbdin was populated mostly by Syriac Christians until the last century.