Mar Mattai Monastery

Mar Mattai monastery is located atop Mount Maqlub, 820 meters high, in the North of the Niniveh Province and 38 kilometres from Mosul.

Seated on the shelf of a rocky peak, this Syriac-Orthodox monastery offers an exceptional double view. 

The monastery became quite early subject of the Syriac-Orthodox jurisdiction, and it is assumed to have sheltered thousands of monks from the end of the 4th century onwards. 

Although it was regularly attacked by the Kurds, in particular in the 12^th and 14^th century, the monastery became of place of resistance as much as a shelter for local and regional Christian people, who were being persecuted.