Turkey: Diyarbakir – St Mary’s Church
Diyarbakir stood at the crossroads of history for millennia and at a time it had a significant Christian Orthodox community. An absolutely stunning example of it is the St Mary’s Syriac Orthodox Church, founded in the 1st century AD, and built in its current form in the 3rd century, and it’s still active today! Back then the Church was the seat of the Assyrian Church of the East and as such was associated with many important theologians. It also contain many priceless religious relics, like paintings, bones of the Apostle Thomas, and priceless manuscripts. The masonry is also amazing – black lava rocks of different colors creating patterns and richly engraved and carved with crosses and flowers. Absolutely spectacular.
