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The Monastery of Mor Sargis and Mor Bakos

Turkey, Anatolian Plateau (Mardín)

The Monastery of Mor Sargis and Mor Bakos

per person

The Monastery of the revered martyred Roman soldiers Sergius and Bacchus, lies North of the Syriac village of Hah (the episcopal see of the Ṭūr ‘Abdīn since an early date up to 613 CE and again from the eleventh to the thirteenth century), currently known with the Turkish name of Anıtl. Its most ancient dated masonry is dated either to 691 or 789 CE (Palmer, Andrew. ‘Corpus of Syriac Inscriptions from Tur Abdin’. Oriens Christianus, Oriens Christianus, 71, 1987: 112-14; Hans Hollerweger et al., Lebendiges Kulturerbe : Turabdin : Wo Die Sprache Jesu Gesprochen Wird. Freunde des Tur Abdin, 1999: 175).

Some ornamental features suggest an eighth-century date of this small complex. The architect Keser Kayaalp claims that, after the Arab conquest, minor monasteries proliferated, such as Mor Loʿozor at Habsenas (which probably had an earlier phase), Mor Yuhannon and Mort Maryam Magdloyto [Mary Magdalen] near Mor Sargis and Bakos, and the latter itself (Keser Kayaalp, Elif. Church Architecture of Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia. Oxford Studies in Byzantium. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2021: 218-9).

FORMAL ANALYSIS

Mor Sargis and Bakos is a small squared unitary complex surrounded by a wall, which was visibly restored during the last century.

In this monastic church, as in the near Monastery of Mor Yuhannon at Hah, some seven- eight-century architectural changes were introduced, such as the absence of dividing walls between the rooms of the sanctuary. Moreover, similar to some of the larger examples of the monastic type, it has a large room to the north.

VIRGINIA SOMELLA

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    Tour Location

    The Monastery of Mor Sargis and Mor Bakos
    Other monuments and places to visit
    Natural HeritageShallow hill, with a plentiful growth of trees, surrounded by fertile fields and vineyards.
    Historical Recreations
    Festivals of Tourist Interest
    Fairs
    Tourist Office
    Specialized Guides
    Guided visits
    AccommodationsHotel or bed and breakfast in the cities of Midyat (28min by car) or Mardin (1h 41min by car).
    RestaurantsRestaurants in the city of Midyat (28min by car).
    Craft
    Bibliography
    Videos
    Website
    Monument or place to visitMonastery of Mor Sargis and Mor Bakos
    StyleRemains of Late Antique local masonry structures, later medieval addictions.
    TypeMonastic complex.
    Epoch8th century – present.
    State of conservationGood conditions.
    Degree of legal protection
    Mailing addressAnıtlı, Midyat/Province of Mardin, TR.
    Coordinates GPS37°28'48.39N 41°36'41.77E
    Property, dependency
    Possibility of visits by the general public or only specialists
    Accessible to general public.
    Conservation needs
    Visiting hours and conditions
    Ticket amount
    Free access.
    Research work in progress
    AccessibilityEasily accessible by car from Midyat (28min) and from Mardin (1h 41min).
    Signaling if it is registered on the route
    Not registered yet.
    Bibliography
    Hans Hollerweger et al., Lebendiges Kulturerbe : Turabdin : Wo Die Sprache Jesu Gesprochen Wird (Freunde des Tur Abdin, 1999), 175.
    Palmer, Andrew. ‘La Montagne Aux LXX Monastères. La Géographie Monastique Du Tur ’Abdin’. In Le Monachisme Syriaque, 169–259. Études Syriaques 7. Paris: Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 2010: 29.
    ID., Monk and Mason on the Tigris Frontier: The Early History of Tur `Abdin (Cambridge England ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
    Keser Kayaalp, Elif. Church Architecture of Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia. Oxford Studies in Byzantium. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2021: 218-9.
    ID., Syriac Architectural Heritage at Risk in TurʿAbdin. Istanbul: KMKD, 2022.
    T. A. Sinclair, Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey., 4 vols (Pindar Press, 1987).
    Videos
    Information websites
    LocationLocated in a S-E part of the Anatolian Plateau, on a shallow hill 500m north of the village of Anıtlı, Syriac Hah (Mardin, Turkey).