Mar Behnam Monastery

Entrance to the monastery

The Monastery of Saint Behnam martyr and his sister Sarah ( Syro -Aramaic ܕ ܝ ܪ ܐ ܪ ܡ ܪ ܝ ܒ ܗ ܢ ܡ ܘ ܡ ܪ ܬ ܣ ܪ ܐ ), is a Syrian Catholic Monastery in northern Iraq, near the city of Bach Dida.

The monastery was built in the 4th century AD by the Assyrian king Senchareb - as penance for the murder of his son Behnam and his daughter Sarah, after using Mar Mattai converted to Christianity.

The monastery belonged at least 10 centuries the Church of the East, as is attested by the Turkic inscriptions from the 13th century, which were left by the Mongolian pilgrims - before it was in the hands of the Syrian Orthodox Church, as the entire region to Monophysitism and converted the monastery to the residence as well as the resting place of a number of Syrian Orthodox Patriarch was.

The monks of the monastery took in the 18th century on contact with Rome, which led to the gradual conversion of the inhabitants of Bach Dida for the Syrian Catholic Church.

The monastery was renovated in 1986 and is visited annually by thousands of Christians and Muslims.