SW News: Finally, after 18 months of restoration work, the 1,500-plus-years-old St Nicholas Church in Turkey’s Antalya has been reopened to visitors. The ancient church in Demre district stands on the premises of a plot of land which is believed to be the resting place of St Nicholas of Myra, the wonder-working saint who inspired the figure of Santa Claus.

The restoration project was financed by the Turkish government and it involved archeologists and experts. Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said he was looking forward to the sacred site becoming a place of worship and pilgrimage for Christians in the years to come.

Speaking at the reopening of the millennia-old church in one of the cradles of Christianity, the minister said, “This church, one of the most outstanding works of Eastern Roman art with its architecture and decorations, has great value for the Christian world. The restoration will enable the Church of St. Nicholas to host many more visitors and worshipers in the decades to come.”

St Nicholas, who is highly venerated as a thaumaturgus or wonder-worker in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches, was born in a beach-side hamlet in Patara near what is now Gelemis in Antalya. His mortal remains were interred near where this church is located today. The origins of this church date back to AD 520.

Experts did extensive work to protect the monument, which is 3 feet below sea level, so that the vagaries of weather and groundwater do not corrode the stones and its foundation. They also retouched the rich murals and floor mosaics in the Byzantine style.

It was only recently that the Greek Orthodox Church, which is headquartered in Istanbul, was granted permission to celebrate the Holy Liturgy in this ancient church. Now, visitors can visit St Nicholas Church from 8.30 am to 8 pm local time.

Asia Minor, which more or less comprises the modern Turkish Republic, features prominently in the New Testament. It can be called one of the cradles of Christianity. It was in Turkey’s Antioch that the believers were first called Christians. St Paul the Apostle was also born in the Turkish city of Tarsus. He is credited with penning more than half of the 27 books in the New Testament. Ephesus, where the Apostle John stayed with the Blessed Virgin after the Pentecost, is also located in modern Turkey. The house of the Virgin is a place of pilgrimage for both Christians and Muslims, who hold Her in high veneration.