Mar Yakov Church or Mor Yakup Church (), also known as Church of Saint Jacob in Nisibis, is a historic church in Nusaybin, southeastern Turkey. Archaeological excavations revealed that the 4th-century church building was originally the baptistery of a cathedral, which no longer exists. It is not determined whether this church belonged to
Syriac Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...
or the
Church of the East
The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
, but it is under the jurisdiction of the
Syriac Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = syc
, image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg
, imagewidth = 250
, alt = Cathedral of Saint George
, caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...
which it is most likely linked to.
History
The historical church is located in
Nusaybin
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
ilçe
The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''.
Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...
(district), formerly Nisibis, either of the
Mardin Province
Mardin Province ( tr, Mardin ili; ku, Parêzgeha Mêrdînê; ar, محافظة ماردين) is a province of Turkey with a population of 809,719 in 2017, slightly down from the population of 835,173 in 2000. Kurds form the majority of the popu ...
of the Syriac Orthodox Church or the
Nisibis province of the Church of the East, in southeastern Turkey. It is situated around east of the
Zeynel Abidin Mosque Complex.
[ The church is dedicated to ]Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
Jacob of Nisibis
Saint Jacob of Nisibis ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܢܨܝܒܢܝܐ, '; Greek language, Greek: Ἅγιος Ἰάκωβος Ἐπίσκοπος Μυγδονίας; Armenian language, Armenian: Յակոբ Մծբնայ, '), also known as Saint Jacob of Mygdonia, ...
, who became bishop of Nisibis by appointment of Episcopal congress, convened in Virgin Mary Church of Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province.
Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...
in 309, and was later venerated
Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etymo ...
saint ( tr, Mor Yakup).[ The church was built by Jacob of Nisibis between 313–320.][ It is considered as one of the oldest churches in ]Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, ...
.
According to some inscriptions and texts, the church was built as the baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...
of a cathedral at that place. However, it was converted to a church after the cathedral and some other buildings were ruined.
Architecture
The church building features the characteristics of the Late Roman
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
and Early Byzantium architecture. It consists of two sections.[
In the southern building, there are two separate parts with two opposed ]buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es. A square place of with two doorways in the northern and southern walls is situated in the eastern part. Its eastern wall has an apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
. On the west side, an arch opening leads to the western part of the southern section. The eastern part features wall decorations and frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
s on the arches and apse's niche. Corinthian helmet
The Corinthian helmet originated in ancient Greece and took its name from the city-state of Corinth. It was a helmet made of bronze which in its later styles covered the entire head and neck, with slits for the eyes and mouth. A large curved pro ...
s decorate all the buttresses except those facing west. It is likely that the middle and western buttresses were added later. The western part of the building has arched doors decorated with fine ornaments in the northern and southern walls. Eight of the doors in the northern and southern walls have horseshoe-like arches. The arches and the pillars are decorated with ornaments. An inscription in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
found on the middle frieze reads: "This baptistery was built with the contribution of priest Akepsyma in 571 (359/360), when Volagesus was metropolitan. Let them be remembered before God". A dome, dated back to 1872 according to an inscription of it, covers the eastern square room. A chamber was added on the western side the same year. Beneath the eastern square room's floor, there is crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
containing a sarcophagus
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
, which is believed to belong to Mor Yakup.[
The northern section of the building was constructed by using the north wall of the southern section. The construction method of the buttresses in this section, which is also observed in many church buildings in ]Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...
in the same region, indicates that this part was built in the 8th century. It has the dimensions .[
A third ]nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
is situated on a mosaic-covered platform in front of the southern section.[
]
Excavation and restoration
A project for the restoration of the church building started in 2000. It was carried out by ÇEKÜL, the cultural heritage foundation, in collaboration with the Municipality of Nusaybin and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Excavation works were carried out in the area between the church and the mosque as well as in the church yard. After removal of some -deep dirt, column pedestal
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ci ...
s were unearthed, placed on a ground of fine-cut limestone. A masonry well of depth still containing water has three different superimposed well tops, most likely due to the rising of the ground level with dirt during all the years before. In the eastern section of the northern yard, a stone-covered platform is situated reachable by three stairs. A sarcophagus with acroterion
An acroterion, acroterium, or akroteria is an architectural ornament placed on a flat pedestal called the ''acroter'' or plinth, and mounted at the apex or corner of the pediment of a building in the classical style. An acroterion placed at th ...
was discovered under the platform. The eastern yard is covered with trees. Graves spreading the entire area were found in the western yard after removal of nearly -thick dirt. The graves were dug in east-west direction, and were built in rubble masonry
Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...
or spolia
''Spolia'' (Latin: 'spoils') is repurposed building stone for new construction or decorative sculpture reused in new monuments. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice whereby stone that has been quarried, cut and used in a built ...
. The skeletons are found laying on the back, arms crossed on the chest and heads turned facing east. In particular children graves, items were found such as glass bracelets, necklaces made of various beads and trim
Trim or TRIM may refer to:
Cutting
* Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them
** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process
** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees
Decoration
* Trim (sewing), or ...
s. Graves with late period characteristics reveal the Christian burial
A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation because it interfered with the concept of the resurrection of ...
customs of Assyrian people.
Seven residences, which were illegally built in the area between the church and the mosque, were dispossessed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and demolished when it appeared in 2007 and 2008 that annex buildings of the church were reaching out towards the mosque. Foundation of the nonexistent Nisibis Cathedral, which was one of the biggest church buildings in the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, and architectural structures of the Artuqids
The Artuqid dynasty (alternatively Artukid, Ortoqid, or Ortokid; , pl. ; ; ) was a Turkoman dynasty originated from tribe that ruled in eastern Anatolia, Northern Syria and Northern Iraq in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. The Artuqi ...
era (1101–1409) were unearthed. Excavations continued until 2014 in the area of . Thousands of ceramic, metal, glass and stone artifacts unearthed during the 15-year-long excavations were included into the findings of 2017, and were analyzed and registered by a group of archeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...
s, art historian
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
s and conservator-restorer
A conservator-restorer is a professional responsible for the preservation of artistic and cultural artifacts, also known as cultural heritage. Conservators possess the expertise to preserve cultural heritage in a way that retains the integrity ...
s of the Mardin Museum.
World Heritage Site status
The church site, together with the nearby Zeynel Abidin Mosque Complex was added to the UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
Tentative List on April 15, 2014, in the Cultural category.
References
{{commons category, Saint Jacob of Nisibis church (Nusaybin)
Churches completed in 320
Churches in Turkey
Syriac Orthodox churches
Oriental Orthodoxy in Turkey
Buildings and structures in Mardin Province
Nusaybin
World Heritage Tentative List for Turkey