A Monument In Lycia: The Church of Saint Nicholas In Myra

172 pp, color figures, pb, in Turkish-English bilingual.

Today, the church associated with St. Nicholas, namely the Church of St. Nicholas, is located in the ancient city of Myra, within the district of modern Demre. Resulting from the alluvium carried by the rivers, the structure remains 7.5-9 meters below ground level today. It is through these alluvial deposits that the structure had been preserved to a large extent. The Church of St. Nicholas was a prominent building in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Period. The Church of St. Nicholas is a basilica type structure. The Outer Narthex of the church was reorganized during the 1862 renovation while the Inner Narthex rising above the older foundations of the structure, survived to our day. The oldest wall paintings in the church, which date to the 11th century AD, are painted on the vaults of the Inner Narthex. Arranged into six scenes, these wall paintings depict the bishops and emperors in council (there are two different painting levels in the area south of the middle vault). Prophet figures are depicted on the arches separating the vaults of the Inner Narthex.Inside the dome of the northeastern section of the church, we find the Communion Scene, in which Christ is offering the Apostles bread (rightward) and wine (leftward). This scene, which is dated to the 11th-12th centuries AD, reflects the stylistic characteristics of the capital