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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

37°17'56.51"N - 40°47'33.27"E

The Monastery of Mor Gabriel

37°19'18.53"N - 41°32'18.29"E

The Monastery of Mor Abai

37°33'23.70"N - 40°57'35.12"E

The Monastry of Mor Loozor

37°28'21.88"N - 41°20'13.11"E

The Monastery of Mor Yakup at Ṣālaḥ (Barıştepe)

37°28'59.71"N - 41°23'48.15"E

The Church of Mor Quryaqos at ʿUrdnus (Bağlarbaşı)

37°27'24.13"N - 41°27'30.01"E

The Church of Mor ʿAzozoʾel at Kfarze (Altıntaş)

37°26'37.31"N - 41°31'40.89"E

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.

Tur ʿAbdin has been settled from the Assyrian period onwards. However, it was in the 6th century that it became a holy mountain for the Syriac Orthodox who had to live a life in exile due to Christological disputes resulting from the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. The Syriac Orthodox Church, which was miaphyiste, was considered to be heretic by the imperial church of the Byzantine Empire. As a result, the Syriac Orthodox developed a rural church hierarchy and they started to build churches and monasteries in the rural Tur ʿAbdin which was a secluded region. Depending on the position of the Emperor’s stand on the miaphysite dispute, some of these monasteries benefited from the imperial patronage, such as the benefaction of the Emperor Anastasius (d. 518) to the monastery of Mor Gabriel. With its remarkable architectural sculpture, the monastery of Deyrul Zafaran also indicates imperial patronage.

After the Arab conquest of the region in 640, the Syriac Orthodox continued to build churches and monasteries. In fact, it has been argued that they experienced a sense of freedom for some time as they were considered as heretic by the Byzantines. Especially in the first two centuries of the Arab rule, we find a flourishment in the building of churches and monasteries in the region. The most remarkable aspect of these churches and monasteries is that they present continuity. Monastic churches were continued to be built as transverse-hall type churches. The village churches took the example of Mor Sobo and built as hall-type churches. There was a tradition of classical sculpture in the region in the 6th century in the region, even if it was abandoned in Constantinople. A stylized version of this sculpture was seen in the 8th century churches. The 12th century is known as “Syriac Renaissance” in terms of literary production. In Tur ʿAbdin, John, the bishop of Mardin, is known to have built many churches and monasteries then. 12th century parts of the monastery of Mor Abai testify to this flourishment and relations between Artuqid rulers and Syriac community with its inscriptions.

In these churches and monasteries, the liturgy is practiced in ancient Syriac which is the Edessan dialect of Aramaic and is considered to be a bridge language in the translation movements from Greek to Arabic. Today, a neo-Aramaic dialect of Syriac, called Turoyo is still spoken in the region and it is enlisted as a severely endangered language in UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Description of the component parts:
The property is a serial nomination that consists of eight components. While the Tur ʿAbdin has a remarkable concentration of churches and monasteries, only four monasteries and five churches are selected for nomination. Dating to the 6th to 8th centuries, these churches have some common features and provide an understanding of the character of the region as a whole. Together with surrounding terraced vineyards, olive and almond trees, the monasteries and churches form a dramatic landscape.

1- The Church of Mor Sobo, Ḥāḥ (Anıtlı): Mor Sobo at Hah which was the cathedral of the 6th century bishopric of Tur Abdion of the Byzantine Empire, is in ruins today. It went through extensive rebuilding over the centuries. It was considered as the prototype of the hall-type churches in the region. This church is much larger than the other hall-type churches in the region. It was during its restoration that the piers, built of alternating layers of stone and brick (opus vittatum) were added. They hide the fine sculpture of the capitals carrying the apse-archivolt and block parts of some of the doors and windows. The piers topped with arches carried a brick vault. The vault has collapsed, but parts of it are still visible in the nave of the church. The English archaeologist Gertrude Bell suggested that this church was originally covered with a timber roof, but when the roof was turned into a barrel-vault, piers were needed to reduce the span and carry the extra weight. The barrel-vault was covered by ceramic tiles as is visible on the northern aisle. They are probably laid on a timber frame. In the church, there is decoration also on liturgical panels, now lying loose in the ruins of the church.

2- The Church of Yoldat Āloho (Meryem Ana), Ḥāḥ (Anıtlı): The church masterfully combines the plans of hall-type village churches and transverse-hall churches of the monasteries of the region. It has a cloister dome which shows advanced building techniques for its time. Its sculpture is an excellent example of stylized version of classical decoration of the 8th century when the region was under the Arab rule. It is remarkable to illustrate the continuity of the classical tradition in the region. Its architecture shows similarities with Armenian and Georgian architecture but it also has many local features which make it unique. The church was described as the “crowning glory of Tur ʿAbdin” by Gertrude Bell in the early 20th century. While there are many local features in this church, we also find Georgian and Armenian features like a high drum, apse decorated with niches, three conch arrangement and a cramped interior.

3- The Monastery of Deyrul Zafaran: This monastery was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch between 1293 and 1932. Its church and burial chamber date to the 6th century. In that respect, it is one of the earliest surviving and still functioning monastic churches. It has classical architectural sculpture and a square naos, which is an innovative interpretation of the transverse layout with large niches in the north and south direction. The burial chamber of the monastery is exquisite with its nice ashlar masonry and classical decoration. In the monasteries of Tur Abdin, the burial chambers are important for the spiritual foundation of the monasteries because they hold the relics of the saints and they are considered to be built before the churches.

4- The Monastery of Mor (Saint in Syriac) Gabriel: This monastery is claimed to be founded in AD 397 in textual sources but most of its buildings date to the 6th century. Its main church has opus sectile pavement and remarkable wall-mosaics with a Greek inscription executed by workmen from Antioch, probably brought to the region when Dara/Anastasiopolis was built as a Byzantine frontier city. Together with the mosaics in St. Catherine’s monastery in Mt. Sinai, the mosaics in Mor Gabriel are the only 6th century Byzantine mosaics survived to the east of Constantinople. The main church of this monastery is that largest transverse type church in the region.

5- The Monastery of Mor Abai near Qelleth (Dereiçi): This monastery is in ruins. The main church of this monastery dates to the 6th century and has the same transverse layout as did the churches of the monasteries of the region. The remarkable feature about this monastery is that it has 12th century inscriptions praising Artuqid rulers and gives ideas about the relations between the Christians and Muslim rulers in the 12th century.

6- The Monastery of Mor Loozor near Habsenas (Mercimekli): This monastery has a stylite tower at the center of its courtyard. The design of the tower is unique, with a void in the middle and a drainage system around it. The tower is from the 8th century under the Islamic rule. It is a powerful and unique example showing that extreme ascetic practices like stylitism continued in the region under the Muslim rulers.

7- The Monastery of Mor Yakup at Ṣālaḥ (Barıştepe): This monastery is an innovative version of the transverse hall-type church with a five-sided apse which is rare in the rest of the Byzantine Empire. Its opening to the apse is not a mere rectangle but like an archivolt similar to the village churches of the region. Thus it combines the features of hall (village) and transverse-hall type (monastic) churches. It was built in the 6th century and later restored in the 8th century. It has frescoes mentioning the people who donated for the reconstruction of the church in the 8th century.

8- The Churches of Mor Quryaqos at ʿUrdnus (Bağlarbaşı) and Mor ʿAzozoʾel at Kfarze (Altıntaş): These two churches are examples for hall-type churches built or rebuilt in the 8th century. Koch argued that their original structure date to the 6th century. They have large apse archivolts which is a stylized version of the 6th century classical sculpture in the region. The sculptures in these churches had an impact in the medieval mosques of the region and are included in the discussions of the revival of classical decoration in the Islamic monuments of 12th century. There are outdoor oratories (beth slutho) in the village churches of Tur ʿAbdin, which are unique to the region. Gertrude Bell considered the church of Mor Sobo which dates to the 6th century as the prototype of the later 8th century village churches of the region.


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