Myra in Lycia
Monday, 5 December 2016 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union Category/Kategorie: General , Union for the Mediterranean
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Tomb of Saint Nicholas © Sjoehest/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Myra was an ancient Greek town in
Lycia where the small town of Kale (
Demre ) is situated today, in present-day
Antalya Province of Turkey. It was located on the river Myros (
Demre Çay ), in the fertile
alluvial plain between Alaca Dağ, the Massikytos range and the Aegean Sea. The ruins of the Lycian and Roman town are mostly covered by alluvial silts. The
Acropolis on the Demre-plateau, the
Roman theatre and the
Roman baths (
eski hamam ) have been partly excavated. The semi-circular theater was destroyed in an
earthquake in 141 , but rebuilt afterwards.
Excavations have been carried out at Andriake since 2009. The granary was turned into the Museum of Lycian Civilizations. The granary has seven rooms and measures 56 meters long and 32 meters wide. Artifacts found during the excavations in the Lycian League were placed in the museum. The structures in the Harbor Bazaar as well as the agora, synagogue and a six-meter deep, 24-meter long and 12-meter wide cistern were restored. A 16-meter long Roman-era boat, a crane and a cargo car were placed in front of the museum.
Ruins of Myra - Theatre © Ingo Mehling/cc-by-sa-3.0
The earliest
church of
St. Nicholas at Myra was built in the 6th century. The present-day church was constructed mainly from the 8th century onward; a monastery was added in the second half of the 11th century. In 1863,
Tsar Alexander II of Russia purchased the building and began restoration, but the work was never finished. In 1963 the eastern and southern sides of the church were excavated. In 1968 the former
confessio (tomb) of St. Nicholas was roofed over. The floor of the church is made of
opus sectile , a mosaic of coloured marble, and there are some remains of
frescoes on the walls. An
ancient Greek marble sarcophagus had been reused to bury the Saint; but his bones were stolen in 1087 by merchants from
Bari , and are now held in the
cathedral of that city .
The church is currently undergoing restoration. In 2007 the Turkish Ministry of Culture gave permission for the
Divine Liturgy to be celebrated in the church for the first time in centuries. On 6 December 2011 Metropolitan Chrysostomos, who has the title of Myra, accordingly officiated.
Read more on
Demre ,
Wikivoyage Demre and
Myra (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
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GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
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Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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