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Location

  • Türkiye, Mardin
  • geo:37.313484,40.733322
  • Location: correct and verified

Period or year

  • 569 / unknown

Classification

  • temple
  • Visible

Mardin, Mor Behnam and Forty Martyrs Church

data access 93084

Forty Martyrs Church (Mor Behnam, Kırklar Kilisesi) was constructed  in 569 and consecrated in honor of  Syriac Saint Behnam and his sister. The name Forty Church and Mor Behnam, the church got both names from early Christian tradition. According to one tradition this church was built in the last quarter of the 4th ccnentury AD by Sanherib II the Governor of the Assyrians in remeberance of his son Behnam and daughter Sarra who died after they converted to Christianity by Mar  Mattay.When the original Kırklar Church in Mardin was converted into a mosque in the 12th century, the name of Mor Behnam Church was changed to "Kırklar Church".

See:

  1.  William Warda, Early Assyrian Churches and Monasteries in northern Iraq https://archive.ph/2013.01.02-050518/http://www.christiansofiraq.com/monastery.html

Nearby sites

Use and reuse

Creators: Entry created by Elżbieta (2023-12-17) , with possible contributions by others. CC BY-SA 4.0, metadata CC-0.
Persistent URI: https://vici.org/vici/93084
Data downloads: KML
Suggested citation: , E. , Mardin, Mor Behnam and Forty Martyrs Church. https://vici.org/vici/93084, accessed 2026-07-14.