Foto de stock - Holy Chair at the Deyr ul-Zafaran Monastery, Turkey. Deyr ul-Zafaran Monastery is an important Syriac Orthodox monastery near the city of Mardin in Turkey. The monastery is located in the area known as Tur Abdin, the motherland of the Assyrian/Syriacs. It is usually better known by its nickname, the ´Saffron Monastery´. This name is derived from the warm colour of its stone. The monastery acquired its present, official name from Saint Hananyo the Syriac equivalent of Ananias, which is its Greek form, who was Metropolitan of Kfartuta from 793 to 800 Saint Hananyo renovated the monastery in 793. Founded in 493 AD, the monastery was formerly the seat of the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1160 until 1932 where it relocated to Damascus. The monastery has 365 rooms - one for each day of the year.