The Meryemana is a major tourist attraction and has a curious history. Tradition holds that the Virgin Mary journeyed to Ephesus with St. John, and is said to have died here.
The main building here dates from the Byzantine era (6th century) but its association with the Virgin only began in the 19th century, following the visions of the German nun, Katharina Emmerich, who gave a precise description of the situation and appearance of a house at Ephesus in which she claimed the Virgin had lived and died.
