The cultural capital of the Southeast Mardin, the city where religions, languages and civilizations meet at a single point. Rising in the middle of the Mardin Plain, the Deyrulzafaran Monastery, one of the medieval monuments, continues to host hundreds of thousands of visitors every year with its unique atmosphere.. This monastery, which is located 4 kilometers from the cultural capital of the southeast region, has been worshiped for nearly a thousand years..
- History
- About Information
- Sections
- Entry Fee
- Where
- Times of Visit
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History of Deyrulzafaran Monastery
For many years, Assyrians lived in the lands of Mardin, in these fertile lands they created dozens of religious buildings. Deyrulzafaran Monastery is one of the must-see masterpieces with its architecture and workmanship built by the Assyrians.
5. This monastery, built in the 16th century, was used as the patriarchal center for 640 years. Deyrulzafaran, one of the important centers of the Assyrians, was residing in the Kırklar Church in the center of Mardin in the summer, while the Patriarch was here during the winter months.. During the years of the Republic, the Syriac patriarchate shifted primarily to Damascus and then to Lebanon.
This monastery, known as the BC Sun Temple, It was built for another purpose on a structure used as a castle by the Romans.. After the Romans withdrew from the region, Saint Şleymun brought the bones of some saints here and turned the complex structure into a monastery.
The historical structure, known as the Mor Şleymun Monastery for a while, is located in Mardin and Aziz Hananyo. After the restoration of the historical building for a while starting from 793, the name of the historical building went down in history as Mor Hananyo Monastery .
15. The name of the monastery was changed to Deyrulzafaran (Saffron Monastery) due to the saffron plant growing around the monastery since the 19th century.
Information About Deyrulzafaran Monastery
The historical and religious building, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, is visited especially by the Assyrians dispersed all over the world for prayer and blessings.
One of the religious education centers of the Syriac Church, Deyrulzafaran attracts the attention of visitors with its wooden handicrafts, arches, columns and domes.
The most important reason for being one of the religious education centers is that the first office of the region was brought to this monastery.. Petrus IV, who was patriarch in the monastery and died in 1895, brought the maatbay, which he bought from England in 1874, to this monastery in 1876.. Dozens of books in Syriac, Arabic, Ottoman and Turkish were printed in this maatba.
We mentioned in the history section of the monastery that there was a Sun Temple in the area where Deyrulzafaran Monastery was built.. This monastery, which was built on a 4000-year-old sun temple , was built on the temple so that the people would not lose their minds after the Assyrians accepted Christianity en masse.
The ceiling of the temple is about < It was covered invisibly with stones weighing 2 tons , remained under the ground. State approval is awaited for excavation work in and around Deyrulzafaran Monastery.
Unfortunately, you do not have such a right when you want to visit this monastery alone.. The religious education of the monastery is still active today.. For this reason, when you visit, you are queued up by the Syriac guides, when you reach enough numbers, you are taken in as a group, and you both learn and observe this historical building with the guide. an advantage, they describe all the textures inside one by one. You do not need to pay a separate fee for Assyrian guides.
Deyrulzafaran Monastery Sections
Today, there are three active sections explained by the guides and shown to the visitors. By the way, do not forget that you have to walk in a long garden to reach the monastery.. After you park your car in the car park and walk through this garden, the guides will greet you..
Churches
After entering Deyrulzafaran Monastery, our first stop will be the churches on the right.
The interiors of the churches are decorated with madder brought from India, and the benches where the ritual is performed are decorated with ivory.. The ceiling part of the rooms, which have a magnificent appearance, has been made more elaborate with gold and silver embellishments.
Although we cannot see gold embroideries, we can see silver embroideries.. Gold embroideries were stolen during the Mongolian invasion .
Another church in the monastery is the Virgin Mary’s Church, this building used as baptism It bears the title of the oldest church of the monastery.
Tomb Rooms
On the sun temple The burial chamber is the last stop of the monastery.. There are rectangular stone blocks weighing two tons in both corners of the burial chamber.. In this room, the clergy are buried after their death, sitting down, facing east.. The most important reason for this is the belief that Jesus will come from the east on the day of resurrection.
Deyrulzafaran Monastery Entrance Fee
Deyrulzafaran Monastery entrance fee is 8 TL for a full person and 4 TL for a student.. Narration and tour of the Syriac guides are included in this fee.
You can sit in the monastery’s cafe before and after the visit, and drink the Zafaran tea collected here.. Visitors who like Zafaran tea can buy it from the market.
Deyrulzafaran Monastery Visitor Hours
In Deyrulzafaran Monastery It is open to visitors at different times in winter and summer.. The monastery is open to visitors between 09:00 – 11:00 and 14:00 – 17:30 in summer, and between 08:00 – 13:00 and 13:30 – 16:00 in winter.
Where is Deyrulzafaran Monastery and How to Go?
Deyrulzafaran Monastery is located on the Mardin Plain, 4 kilometers east of Mardin.
Full Address of the Monastery : Eskikale Mahallesi, Deyrulzafaran Yolu No:1 D:2, 47100 Artuklu/Mardin
There are bus services to Mardin from all over Turkey around the clock.. You can easily reach this monastery after you reach Mardin by using different bus companies.
To Mardin Airport, which is 20 kilometers from the center of Mardin You can also reach by plane flights.. You can use the shuttles from the airport to the city center, from here you can reach the monastery by taxi.
There is a 15-minute distance between the monastery and Mardin Bus Station.. You can easily reach by taxi or by renting a car.
Reaching by Your Private Vehicle
After you start moving from Mardin Bus Station then use the D-955 highway to reach Mardin Orduevi, follow the direction signs from here, turn right and proceed on Eskikale Yolu.
References:
http://www.deyrulzafaran.org/turkce/
