The house of the Virgin Mary near Selcuk is close to Ephesus ancient city ruins in Turkey’s Izmir province. Yet despite immense popularity, many people do not take a detour to visit the suspected mountain house where Mother Mary lived and died. Although the Catholic Church never confirmed the Virgin Mary’s house to be the place of her assumption, three popes have visited. The Catholic Church takes responsibility for running the house through donations and funding.
The Virgin Mary’s house is a pilgrimage place for Christians, but the Muslim Quran talks about the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana Evi), which prompts Muslims to visit. Whether this, the holy place of the Virgin Mary is about belief and any hard-core atheist would scoff, some Christians have remarked to me that they felt an intense divine presence that will last a lifetime.
Christian Historians and religious experts agree that Saint John, Saint Paul, and the Virgin Mary lived in the ancient city of Ephesus that these days is one of Turkey’s top attractions. However, the discovery of the Virgin Mary’s house was from an unexpected source. In the early 19th century, a Christian nun named Anne Catherine Emmerich took to her bed, where she dreamed intensely. Some sources accused her of religious ecstasy, while others said she had contracted a fever. Her dreams and visions included stories of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Noted and published in a book, fifty-seven years after her death, a priest followed descriptions to locate the Mother Virgin Mary’s last resting place. Anne, the nun, and the priest, never went to Ephesus and, excavation work had not started. Was this coincidence or the divine truth? The priest believed he had found the Virgin Mary’s house, yet it took many years to convince others worldwide. These days as well as being a shrine, the house functions as a chapel and place of worship.