page_title: Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Photograph by Gareth Hughes of the tomb of Saint Jacob (Mor Y`aqub) in Nisibis.
context_page_description: Mor Yakup Church, also known as Church of Saint Jacob in Nisibis, is a historic Syriac Orthodox church in Nusaybin, southeastern Turkey. Archaeological excavations revealed that the 4th-century church building was originally the baptistery of a cathedral, which no longer exists.
context_section_description: The church building features the characteristics of the Late Roman and Early Byzantium architecture. It consists of two sections.
  In the southern building, there are two separate parts with two opposed buttresses. A square place of 7 m × 7 m (23 ft × 23 ft) with two doorways in the northern and southern walls is situated in the eastern part. Its eastern wall has an apse. On the west side, an arch opening leads to the western part of the southern section. The eastern part features wall decorations and friezes on the arches and apse's niche. Corinthian helmets decorate all the buttresses except those facing west. It is likely that the middle and western buttresses were added later. The western part of the building has arched doors decorated with fine ornaments in the northern and southern walls. Eight of the doors in the northern and southern walls have horseshoe-like arches. The arches and the pillars are decorated with ornaments. An inscription in Ancient Greek found on the middle frieze reads: "This baptistery was built with the contribution of priest Akepsyma in 571 (359/360), when Volagesus was metropolitan. Let them be remembered before God". A dome, dated back to 1872 according to an inscription of it, covers the eastern square room. A chamber was added on the western side the same year. Beneath the eastern square room's floor, there is crypt containing a sarcophagus, which is believed to belong to Mor Yakup.
  The northern section of the building was constructed by using the north wall of the southern section. The construction method of the buttresses in this section, which is also observed in many church buildings in Tur Abdin in the same region, indicates that this part was built in the 8th century. It has the dimensions 7 m × 9.5 m (23 ft × 31 ft).
  A third nave is situated on a mosaic-covered platform in front of the southern section.
caption: Tomb of Saint Jacob of Nisibis
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