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Dair Mar Elia is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Dair Mar Elia

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq until ISIS blew it up twice and then drove over it with bulldozers.

Mosul, Iraq

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Saint Elijah’s Monastery, Mosul, Iraq - the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq   Created by Doug, 18 February, 2005 and posted in Wikipedia under a GFDL license
Saint Elijah’s Monastery (Dair Mar Elia), south of Mosul, Iraq, was cared for by the Chaldean Church for centuries, and Christian pilgrims continued to visit the ruins   Photo courtesy of James Gordon
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The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, Dair Mar Elia, or Saint Elijah's Monastery in English, was built in the 6th century.  The monastery was located in a fenced off area in FOB Marez and protected by the US Army Chaplin Corp, but is now under the control of ISIS.

Update: As of late 2014, this site no longer exists.  ISIS set off both surface and sub-surface bombs to destroy this historic site, then leveled the entire location with bulldozers. 

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Christianity

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The monastery was located just south of Mosul.

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Published

August 9, 2015

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