The house of Mary is believed to be a holy shrine belonging to both the Christian and Muslim believers. The shrine is located in the beautiful Mt.Koressos a stone’s throw away from Ephesus. Ephesus is about 7 km from selcuk.The catholic doctrines describe it as the place where Mary, the mother of Jesus was taken to by Saint John until the day of her assumption. This amazingly beautiful stone house (shrine) is located in a remote neighbourhood, where it enjoys a unique atmosphere while remaining neatly hidden in the green. The house was originally two-stored, and comprised of anteroom, bedroom and praying room (currently the Christian church’s area) and finally a fireplace room (currently the chapel for the Muslims) Abbé Julien Gouyet of paris, was the French priest, who discovered the shrine, on October 18th,1881.



HISTORY

The House of virgin Mary is believed to have been discovered on October 18th, 1881, by a French priest called Abbé Julien Gouyet.He strongly believed that Virgin Mary had spent the very last years of her life in this particular house. It is said that his belief came from the visions described by a German nun Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1884).His discovery was quickly dismissed by some biblical scholars. The same building was to be discovered ten years later by two Lazarist missionaries who came from Smyrna, who used a book published by Clemens Brentano. The book clearly described the vision of the German nun in detail. The lazarist named the place Panaya Kapulu which meant “chapel of the most holy”, they also made a very important discovery, that the shrine had formerly been highly respected for a very long time by a group of people who are believed to be the descendants of Christians of Ephesus. The lazarists also believed that Mary had died in this particular stone house which was to later become a shrine. Every year there was a pilgrimage that was made to the site on August 15th.This later became a very important celebration for Christians all over the world, it symbolized Mary’s Dormition. This discovery has for a long time been linked to the ancient Christian tradition, ‘the tradition of Ephesus’.