This text talks about the House of the Virgin Mary, one of the significant sacred sites in the Christian world, located on Bülbüldağı near Ephesus, which is 7 km away from Selçuk. It is a Catholic pilgrimage site attributed to Mary, one of the important figures in Christianity and the mother of Jesus. Places where Mary lived or was buried are considered sacred for believers. The House of the Virgin Mary is considered the final residence of Mary.
Discovery of the House of the Virgin Mary:
In the last century, a book titled “The Life of Mary in the Light of the Revelations of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich” was published. Sister Emmerich, a German nun, vividly described these places despite never having seen them. In this book, she provided detailed and clear descriptions of Ephesus, Bülbüldağı, and the house where Mary spent her final years. Based on these descriptions, two separate scientific groups discovered the remains of this house in 1891, confirming that they closely matched Sister Emmerich’s accounts. However, there are no definitive historical records regarding the House of the Virgin Mary, and the subject remains controversial among researchers and historians.
The Place of Worship:
The place of worship is built on the remains of the house where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived. The foundations date back to the 1st and 4th centuries, and some of the walls belong to the 7th century. The latest restoration work was carried out in 1951.