Heavy rains damage 1,300-year-old church in Iraq

Heavy rains this week collapsed the stone walls at a church in northern Iraq, damaging a site that has stood for more than 1,300 years.

The Mar Aha Church, dating back to the 8th century, is located in Sharman, a village in Iraq’s Dohuk Governorate at the base of the sprawling Shoshan mountains. Once known as Shalmath, it was home to Assyrians for centuries — though most left in the 1960s. Only a handful have since returned. 

Belonging to the Chaldean Church, the site survived as the last visible reminder of the community’s presence in the area.

“This is not only something that belongs to the church,” said researcher Mikhael Benjamin. “It speaks about our existence in this country. You can tell the world, this is ours, we were here. It’s proof, very clear proof, that this land belongs to us.”

The church takes its name from a bishop who was buried in the village after his death. A building was erected over his grave, forming the foundation of what later became the church grounds. 

The Mar Aha Church is one of at least 600 abandoned churches and monasteries across Iraq, according to Benjamin and his wife, Adessa Hanna. The couple has launched a project to document each site, racing against neglect, decay and their historical erasure. 

It’s a project that will inform a book the couple is publishing later this year about Assyrian demographic changes in Iraq over the last 20 years — an effort they say is meant to preserve memory in places where stones are steadily disappearing. 

Mar Aha was to be included in a 2023 initiative to protect hundreds of worship sites in Iraq. The proposed project included fencing, signage and security cameras to deter trespassers, but it never moved beyond the planning stage and remains under discussion. 

In July of that year, the Chaldean Church — led by Archbishop Najeeb al-Sami of Mosul — reclaimed the site from a family that had been squatting inside, restoring it after over four decades of encroachment.

The hope at the time was its restoration would spark the revival of other churches, monasteries and their properties. But so far, that hasn’t materialized.

“By protecting these sites, you are not only protecting cultural heritage, your church, and your memories,” Benjamin said. “You’re protecting your land.”