House of the Virgin Mary

The House of the Virgin Mary stands on the wooded slope of Mount Koressos, called Bulbuldagi or "Mount Nightingale" in Turkish, about 7 km from Selcuk and looking down over the ruins of Ephesus. Catholic tradition identifies the small stone building as the last home of Mary, and it has drawn pilgrims continuously since the late 19th century.

How the House Was Found

Tradition holds that after the crucifixion the apostle John brought Mary with him to Ephesus. The building itself was unknown to the outside world until the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German Augustinian nun who died in 1824 having never travelled to Anatolia, yet who described the location and the layout of the house in detail. Her accounts were published by the writer Clemens Brentano, and on 18 October 1881 a French priest, Abbe Julien Gouyet, used them to locate a ruined house on the mountain. Two Lazarist missionaries confirmed the identification on 29 July 1891.

Religious Standing and Papal Visits

The Catholic Church has never pronounced either for or against the authenticity of the house. It has nonetheless given the site steadily greater recognition: Pope Leo XIII blessed it in 1896, Pius XII raised it to the status of a Holy Place in 1951, and three popes have come in person - Paul VI on 26 July 1967, John Paul II on 30 November 1979 and Benedict XVI on 29 November 2006. Emmerich herself was beatified by John Paul II in 2004. Mary is venerated in Islam as well, and Muslim visitors make up a substantial share of the people who come here.

Visiting the Shrine

The road up from Ephesus climbs through pine and olive groves and ends at a car park, with the last stretch on foot. The chapel is deliberately plain: restored stone walls around a single room, with an altar and a statue of the Virgin. Visitors are asked to keep silence inside, and there is usually a queue along the path in the middle of the day.

Outside the entrance is the wishing wall, a rack of mesh where pilgrims tie written prayers and intentions - paper, cloth and ribbon layered on top of one another and cleared periodically. Below the house, spring-fed taps are held by many to have healing properties. A keyhole-shaped baptismal pool sits on the approach path, associated with the early Christian community around Ephesus.

Ephesus Next Door

The house falls inside the same archaeological zone as Ephesus, and few people visit one without the other. Ephesus was among the largest cities of Roman Asia Minor and is one of the most completely excavated ancient sites in the Mediterranean; the Library of Celsus, the Great Theatre and the marble streets between them are the landmarks. Selcuk, at the foot of Ayasuluk Hill, adds the Basilica of St John, built over the apostle's grave, and the foundations of the Temple of Artemis.

Arriving by Sea

Kusadasi, roughly 20 km west, is the nearest harbour and the usual landfall for anyone coming by water; the transfer inland takes about half an hour. The shrine keeps daytime hours and is busiest with coach parties in the middle of the day, so guests on a gulet cruise along the Turkey coast generally make the climb to Mount Koressos first thing and are back on board by early afternoon.