ARICA VILLAGE MOR YAKOB ASSYRIAN CHURCH

X: 41.444937 Y: 37.510208 Z: 992.64

Mor Yakob Church was built on the bedrock and interconnected cave structures in the center of Arıca (Kefro) village in Gercüş district of Batman province. Arica Village is located 50km southeast of Batman center and 9km southeast of Gercüş district center (Picture 1-2).

Located in the north of the atrium, the east-west oriented rectangular planned church has a single nave and consists of naos, holy bema and gallery sections. The building, which rises on a stone wall, was built as a barrel vault from the inside and a flat roof from the top.

Extending in the north-south direction, the atrium has two entrances, one in the north and one in the south. The narthex of the church is located in the south. The natex section is barrel vaulted in east-west direction. To the east of the narthex, there are stairs leading to the gallery floor and niches and crenellated window openings on its walls (Picture 3). In the eastern part, there is a tomb structure placed in a niche.

The naos is rectangular in plan in east-west direction and covered with a barrel vault. There are 8 deaf niches formed by round arches on the interior walls of the naos section (Picture 4). To the east of the naos is the apse niche, to the south of the apse is the pastaforium cell, and in front of the apse is the bema section. The bema separated from the naos by parapets; It was kept higher than the naos level (Picture 5). The gallery floor, which has an L-plan feature, consists of three parts. To the south of the church, there is a rectangular planned space with an entrance facing the atrium. The western entrance of this place, which is thought to be a Jamatun, has a rectangular form. In general, cut stone, rubble stone, smooth cut stone and cas mortar were used in the construction of the building. A large part of the church was repaired with a craftsmanship suitable for the present.