Noah’s Ark and Mount Judi (Mesopotamia/Mardin Province)

According to Armenian and Syrian Christians living east of the Tigris River, the landing place of Noah’s Ark was Mount Judi, not the Ararat mountains on the Turkish-Armenian border widely held to be the
location.

Mount Judi is part of the mountain range that forms the northern border of the Mesopotamian plain. Nestorian Christians built monasteries on Mount Judi, including one on its summit called the Cloister of the Ark. According to tradition, wood from the ark was used to build a mosque in Cizre on the modern Syrian border, where the so-called tomb of Noah is located today.

Exploration of Mount Judi is not possible be- cause access has been closed by the Turkish military since 1981. The exact location of the landing of Noah’s ark still remains unknown.