Güllübahçe: Gelebeç Church of St Niko

After our tasty and filling breakfast, we headed off to do some sightseeing.

Our first stop was the ruins of a Greek Orthodox church in nearby Güllübahçe.

Before the Turkish War of Independence, the village was known as Upper Gelebeç and Lower Gelebeç. The Greek population lived in the former and the Turkish population lived in the latter section. In 1922, following the end of the war, the Greeks abandoned the village. After the post-war population exchange, Turkish immigrants from Greece took over the upper section. Unfortunately, the 1955 earthquake caused considerable damage, leading to this part of the village being abandoned once again.

The ruins of the Church of St Nicholas — of Santa Claus fame — is located in Upper Gelebeç. According to the website of the Söke District Government, it was built in 1821 over the ruins of another church.

After the village became wholly Turkish, it was converted to a mosque and saw use as such until recently. The current condition of the structure is blamed on the destruction caused by treasure hunters.

Having been designated as a cultural heritage building, however, the church/mosque is now under government protection. Whether the building will ever be renovated is TBD … it would be quite the undertaking to do so.Weiterlesen