Where was the Mar Kozma Church in Diyarbakır, why did it disappear?

Editor's note: The following is an English translation of an article published in a local newspaper in Omid (Diyarbakir), Turkey.

Today, only two old photos remain from Mar Kozma Church, which is located in the historical Alipaşa District of Diyarbakır. The church, whose construction date is stated as A.D. 330, is considered one of the important examples of the Assyrian architectural existence in the city.

According to historical records, the Mar Kozma Church was located in the southeast of the Church of the Virgin Mary, the only surviving Assyrian church.

Although there are no remains of this structure today, historical sources inform that the church is one of the early Christian buildings.

Historian Van Berchem states that the Mar Kozma Church was built in 330 A.D. This information shows that the church points to the very early periods of Christian presence in Diyarbakır.

One of these known photographs of the church that has survived to this day is Prof. Dr. It was published in Yusuf Kenan Haspolat's work "Diyarbakır Churches".

The photos include the bell tower of the building, the cut stone walls and scenes from daily life around the building.

According to the information at hand about the church, it is stated that a hymn book (Fenkitho) written in western Assyrian, which is estimated to belong to the Mar Kozma Church, is currently located in Mardin Kırklar Church.

There are no longer any traces of the building from the Mar Kozma Church. Neither a wall nor a stone stands. However, rare photographs and some written sources in the archives continue to document the place of this structure in the multicultural history of Diyarbakır.