Haho church, also known as the church of the Virgin, stands at Bağbaşı village in the Tortum district of Erzurum. It was built between 976 and 1001 by the Bagratid king David III, and in the nineteenth century it was converted into a mosque, which is why it also carries the name Taş Cami, the stone mosque. Its plan combines the closed Greek cross with the basilica.
The carving inside gives a good deal of space to animal figures — lions, bulls, eagles and griffins. The walls of the interior, and the apse in particular, are painted with frescoes showing scenes from the Gospels and depicting Christ and the Virgin. The apse section rises above the rest in the form of a tower. You enter through a round-arched door at the middle of one of the long sides. The village is about 85 kilometres from Erzurum; public transport to Tortum leaves from the western district garage in the Şükrüpaşa quarter.
Getting there
- Access
- About eighty-five kilometres from the city centre. Take the Tortum public transport that leaves from the western district garage in the Şükrüpaşa neighbourhood.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Erzurum as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from -9.1 °C in January to 19.6 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in July and August; rainfall is heaviest in May (73 mm) and lightest in August (18 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
