St. Nicholas Church, officially known as the St. Nicholas Memorial Museum, is located in the modern district of Demre between Kaş and Finike in Antalya Province, Turkey. Situated in the ancient city of Myra, the church is associated with the death of Saint Nicholas, who served as a 4th-century Christian bishop of Myra. He is an important religious figure for Eastern Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics and serves as the historical inspiration for Santa Claus.
The church was built in AD 520 on the foundations of an older Christian church where Saint Nicholas had served as a bishop. Justinian I contributed to the reconstruction of the building for the state church of the Roman Empire. The basilica has been used as a place of worship from antiquity until the period of the Greek genocide in the 20th century.
Architecturally, the basilica is noted for its remarkable wall frescos, and its architectural and religious significance. It represents an ancient East Roman basilica church structure. The northeast annex arcade contains the only example of Nicholas's life cycle on ancient frescoes in Turkey. Additionally, parts of the church preserve opus sectile decoration.
Over time, the church was flooded and filled with silt, altering its physical condition. In 1862, it was restored by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, who added a tower and made other changes to its Byzantine architecture.
The church continued to function as a place of worship until its final abandonment by the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1923. That year, the remaining Ottoman Greeks of Demre were required to leave due to the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Since then, the church has had no permanent congregation.
It is believed that after Saint Nicholas's death, he rested here for a time before his bones were forcibly translated to Bari by Italian sailors in 1087. Archaeological excavations revealed the northern section of the monastery complex, small chapels around the nave containing vibrant frescoes detailing the life and miracles of the saint, and a desecrated sarcophagus thought to be the original burial place.
Archaeological excavations in the church started in 1988, directed by S. Yıldız Ötüken, a professor of art history at Hacettepe University in Ankara. Faculty members and workers from Hacettepe University, Istanbul University, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Erciyes University, and Hatay Mustafa Kemal University participated in the excavations.
Today, operating as a museum, St. Nicholas Church is on UNESCO's tentative list to become a World Heritage Site. Although it lacks a regular local congregation, the Orthodox liturgy is occasionally celebrated in the church on December 6.
Wikimedia research dossier · Last checked: 2026-08-30 21:07:56
