Dayro d'Mor Ya'qub Hbishoyo

The Mor Ya'qub the Recluse Monastery history dates back to its first mention in the 10th century. It was founded in 419 AD by Mor Ya'qub, who was born around 330 AD in Egypt and was initially a monk of the Monastery of Bishoi in Wadi al-Natrun, near Alexanderia, Egypt. He fled Egypt during the persecution under Emperor Julian, traveled to Antioch, then Amida (modern Diyarbakır), before settling in Salah. Mor Ya'qub is credited with numerous miracles, including curing the sick and making a one-week-old baby speak. The monastery is believed to stand on the site of a former Persian sanctuary. According to some accounts, a Persian commander martyred Mor Bar Shabo and his eleven disciples at this very spot. Mor Ya'qub settled here and died in 421 AD. His disciple, Mor Daniel, continued his work, and the monastery eventually grew to house hundreds of monks, necessitating its enlargement with the assistance of local villagers. Inscriptions within the complex, document the names of benefactors, clerics, monks, and patriarchs who lived and died there between 770 and 1364. The ruins outside the main building are thought to be the remains of Mor Jacob's hermitage. The present main church building dates to the 8th century. The Beth Qadishe (burial area) contains Mor Ya'qub's tomb. The monastery served as the metropolitan chair for the region during the 8th century but it was abandoned in 1720 and inhabited by Kurds until Metropolitan Mor Philexinous Zaytun of Anhil reclaimed it in 1851 and assigned a monk named Had bshabo there. The main church was rebuilt in 753 CE with the participation of nearby villages, an event recorded in an inscription listing 25 Syriac inhabitants and their donations for restoration. The main church features a transversal plan with a brick barrel vault, adorned with crosses and ornaments on its walls.The stone vault of the church, likely a 6th-century foundation, may have been later replaced by brick. The decorative style of the pilasters, featuring garlands, doves, and vines in stone relief with Corinthian capitals, is unique to the region, bridging 6th-century and 8th-century traditions. Cells cut into the rock wall are found on the northern hill from the valley. 

The monastery's historical role as the "seat of an anti-Patriarchate" of the Patriarch of Tur-Abdin from 1364 to 1839, in opposition to the Patriarchate established at the Dayro d'Za'faran Monastery, demonstrates its significance beyond a local religious site. 

The monastery was abandoned during the persecutions of the First World War but was reoccupied by Syriac Christians in 1965. It has since undergone extensive restoration, though the current complex represents only a fraction of its original size. A bell tower was added in the 20th century, becoming a distinctive architectural element in Tur Abdin. It functions as the religious center for the remaining Syriac people in the village of Salah, with a monastic community having returned.