ARICA VILLAGE MOR BARSUMA MONASTERY

X: 41.441207 Y: 37.52856 Z: 969.37

Mor Barsuma Monastery is located on the rocky area to the north of Arıca (Kafro) village within the borders of Gercüş district of Batman province. Arıca village is located 50km southeast of Batman center and 9km southeast of Gercüş district center.

There is no definite information about the construction date of the monastery, which was built by carving into the bedrock. The monastery located outside the village center; It consists of a single two-storey building carved into the bedrock. No cultural assets other than agricultural lands were found around the monastery, which was bordered by a perimeter wall (Picture 1). (Picture 2) The east-west oriented rectangular building has a single entrance (Picture 3). The two-storey building has a prayer hall and a corridor on the lower floor, and three rooms on the upper floor. The church area where the main entrance is located in the northeast of the building;

It has an irregular rectangular plan in east-west direction. The bema in front of the apse niche is elevated with a two-stepped bench (Picture 4).

To the south of the church section, there is the corridor that leads to the second floor. Second floor; consists of three interconnected spaces (Picture 5). There is a cistern at the entrance in the middle, and a canal system reaching the cistern from the ceiling on the western wall. To the southeast of the place is a rectangular planned burial chamber. Access to the room with a lower floor code is provided by a two-step ladder.

On the front of the monastery, there are pilgrimage motifs carved into oval and rectangular plates. However, since the pilgrimage motifs are subject to destruction, their lines are not clear (Picture 6). There are two cisterns to the west and north of the monastery, which are used to meet the water needs.