Mor Kiryakus Monastery Mor Kiryakus Monastery, situated in Ayrancı Village of Beşiri District, Batman Province, Turkey, is a grand three-story structure. Its rectangular shape from the outside belies its two large square plans from within, with a closed courtyard and rooms behind each wing of the flying buttresses. In the 4th century, missionary monks from Aleppo converted people to Christianity and established monasteries atop hills and rocks that dominated the Northern Mesopotamian Plain. Mor Kiryakus Monastery is an example of this tradition and is located in the sacred region of Turabdin, considered holy by Syriac Christians. Turabdin has almost 80 churches, and the construction of Mor Kiryakus Monastery paved the way for the building of newer monasteries. Built in 457 A.D., the monastery was operational until the 1940s. Priests completing their training here received the title of "archpriest" and were assigned to other churches in the Turabdin Region. As people did not live nearby, all artifacts were left at Mor Gabriel Monastery for preservation, an effort that continues to this day. While much of the Mor Kiryakus Monastery now lies in ruins, it still contains many adjacent rooms of varying sizes.