🕊 Free · Nonprofit · Open to Everyone

Your prayers, carried to the House of Virgin Mary in Ephesus

Prayers and wishes help us look at the future with hope. Wherever you are in the world, and whoever you are, write your prayer — and we, licensed Ephesian tour guides, will place it with our own hands on the centuries-old wishing wall at the House of Virgin Mary.

Send Your Prayer Now Learn About the Initiative

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Matthew 7:7

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Why We Started

Every prayer deserves to be heard

Everyone should have the opportunity to make a wish at the House of Virgin Mary in Ephesus — even those who cannot travel here. We, Ephesian tour guides, are here to help.

The House of Virgin Mary near Ephesus — part of the UNESCO World Heritage area of Ephesus — welcomes millions of visitors every year. We have witnessed people of the world praying side by side for a brighter future, united under Mary’s roof — standing together without racial or religious boundaries. Perhaps the most beloved corner of the sanctuary is the little wishing wall in the lower gardens, which gathers thousands of handwritten prayers every day.

This is a shrine where three popes have prayed — Benedict XVI called it a place of peace — and whose story reads like a novel: a bedridden nun’s visions, a mountain rediscovery in 1891, and a century of loving restoration.

We started the Prayers Unchained Initiative with one ambition: no distance, no hardship, no circumstance should stand between people and the brighter future they imagine. Send us your prayer, and it will find its place on that wall. Read our story — we are affiliated with no government or ideology, completely self-funded and nonprofit. This is, and will always be, free.

“I wrote a prayer for my mother while she was in the hospital, and strangers I had never met carried it to the Virgin Mary’s garden. The night they placed it on the wall, I slept peacefully for the first time in months. My heart knew it had been heard.”

Mariana · Lisbon, Portugal

How It Works

Three simple steps

From your heart to the wishing wall — we take care of everything in between.

Write your prayer

Send us your prayer or wish below — for yourself, or on behalf of someone you love.

We carry it to Ephesus

We receive your prayer with care and bring it to the House of Virgin Mary on our regular visits as local tour guides.

It joins the wishing wall

Your words are placed among thousands of prayers on the centuries-old wall in Mary’s garden. Follow our social pages to see the moments we share from the wall.

No fees, no donations asked — ever. This is our gift to the praying world. 🕊

Did you know? 🕊

The mountain where the House of Virgin Mary stands is called Bülbül Dağı — “Nightingale Mountain” in Turkish. Pilgrims say the birdsong on the forest road is the first welcome you receive.

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“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Philippians 4:6

Discover

Explore the story behind the initiative

The House of Virgin Mary

The humble stone house where Mary is believed to have spent her final years — and how it was found.

Read the story →

The Wishing Wall

A wall covered with thousands of prayers — and the beautiful tradition your prayer becomes part of.

Discover the tradition →

About the Initiative

Who we are, why we started, and the promise we make to everyone who trusts us with a prayer.

Meet us →

Letters That Came Back to Us

Stories from people who sent their prayers

Nothing moves us more than the messages we receive after a prayer has been placed on the wall.

Last winter was hard for our family — my work hours were cut, and worry sat at our table like a guest who would not leave. We didn’t ask for a miracle. We just asked for strength to get through. Knowing our little paper rested on Mary’s wall gave us a calm we hadn’t felt in months, and by spring I had steady work again. But the real gift is this: we learned to pray together as a family.

L&M

Luca & Chiara

Verona, Italy

I am a widow, and some evenings the silence in my house was louder than any storm. I sent a simple prayer — not for anything, just to feel less alone. A warmth settled over me in the weeks that followed, gentle as a hand on my shoulder. I know Who it was. My heart has been calm ever since.

Helga

Munich, Germany

During the COVID lockdowns I proposed to my beloved in a video call — we were separated by an ocean and closed borders, with no idea when we would see each other again. I asked the initiative to place our prayer for reunion on the wall. When the borders finally opened, she was in my arms at the airport. Next year we will visit the House of Virgin Mary together, as husband and wife, to say thank you.

Antoine

Lyon, France

From Our Pages

The story behind the shrine

Anne Catherine Emmerich

The bedridden nun whose visions found Mary’s house — without ever leaving Germany.

Read her story →

Entrance of the House of Virgin Mary in Ephesus

The Discovery of 1891

Two skeptical priests followed a book up a mountain — and found the ruin it described.

Read the story →

Feast of the Assumption service at the House of Virgin Mary

Popes at Mary’s House

Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI — a century of papal devotion.

Follow the popes →

Send Your Prayer

Submit your prayers and wishes

Write your prayer below — for yourself, or for your beloved ones — and we will place it on the wishing wall at the House of Virgin Mary. It is free, and it always will be.

Did you know? 📖

Virgin Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’an — an entire chapter, Surah Maryam, carries her name. That is why Christians and Muslims pray side by side at her house in Ephesus.

The Gülday family — Hasan, Valeriya, their daughters and their cat at home near Ephesus

The Hands That Carry Your Prayers

We are the Gülday family

Hasan, Valeriya, our two daughters — and yes, the cat insists on being in the photo. We live a short drive from the House of Virgin Mary, and this initiative is simply our family’s way of being good neighbours to the world: every prayer that arrives is received with care, carried up the mountain, and placed on the wishing wall by us personally.

We believe faith is something you do with your hands. Helping believers who cannot travel — the elderly, the unwell, the far away — place their prayers at Mary’s house costs us little and means everything to them. That is the whole story. No fees, no fine print, just a family keeping a promise.

— Hasan & Valeriya Gülday

Follow the journey of the prayers

We share moments from the House of Virgin Mary and the wishing wall on our social pages.