Mar Behnam Monastery, Syriac Catholic monastery in Qaraqosh, Iraq.

Mar Behnam Monastery is a Syriac Catholic monastery in Qaraqosh consisting of a main church building and a separate tomb structure integrated into a small hill called Tell al-Khidr. The architecture blends Romanesque elements with local building traditions and displays artistic influences from both Christian and Islamic periods.

According to legend, the monastery was built in the 4th century by King Senchareb as penance for martyring his son Behnam and daughter Sarah after their conversion to Christianity. It belonged to the Church of the East until the 14th century, as Mongolic inscriptions left by Christian pilgrims in the 1200s attest. Sculpture inscriptions record renovations in 1164 and between 1250 and 1261. In 1790 the Catholic Church took over; after a brief Syriac Orthodox return, monks abandoned it in 1819, and the Syriac Catholic Church repopulated it in 1839.

The monastery is named for Mar Behnam and his sister Sarah, martyred by their father, King Senchareb, after their conversion by the hermit Matthew. Tradition holds that the king repented and built a dome, called the Jubb, over the underground spot where their remains lie. Christians and Muslims alike visit to seek blessings, and the monastery keeps a large library of rare manuscripts.

The monastery stands in the village of Khidr Ilyas, about 14 km south of Bakhdida (Qaraqosh) and roughly 30 km southeast of Mosul. It was renovated in 1986 and restored to its pre-ISIS condition by early December 2018. The gatehouse opens onto a courtyard where the church facade with three arched windows faces the entrance.

Mongol Christian pilgrims left inscriptions in the monastery in the 1200s, written in a script of the eastern steppes. They record visits made while the site belonged to the Church of the East, before the Syriac Orthodox took charge. The church sculptures also carry inscriptions recording renovations in 1164 and between 1250 and 1261.