Saturday, 25 May 2013

The ghost of Aya Nikola Church in Bodrum.



The centre of Bodrum has been blighted for many years by a very ugly concrete edifice.  Built on the ruins of St Nicholas' Orthodox Church in 1969, the ex-Halk Eğitim (Public Education) building has always looked out of place, even when it was a busy venue for films, lectures, exams and sports activities. Later it became bazaar for books and tacky trinket sellers and recently it was deemed unsafe (just 42 years after it was built) and condemned.  I have always assumed that the pre-existing church had been completely demolished in the 60s and even heard talk of dynamite being used to blast away the walls, but it seems that the ghost of the church lives on.


I've been watching the careful demolition of the modern building over the past few months and sharing the excitement as original stonework has appeared. .


It's now evident that the 1969 construction enveloped the remaining walls of the church and careful stripping has revealed what is left of the 1780 structure.


Even in this state it looks better than the 20th century abomination that Bodrum put up with for over 40 years. 



Picture  Ibrahim Arkula - Eski Bodrum Facebook page

Construction/destruction work has now stopped for the summer and I'm looking forward to hearing the plans for the future of the site.  One school of thought is that it will be turned into an open air museum come art gallery while another group of Bodrumites want the building restored to its original proportions, not necessarily as a consecrated church, but as a monument to all the Christian inhabitants of Bodrum who were sent to Greece in the 1920s population exchange. 



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13 comments:

  1. BacktoBodrum25 May 2013 at 18:31

    I'm away from home with very little access to the internet so I'm very happy to see that this post which I prepared at home and published with a 3 day time delay, has appeared. I'll say sorry in advance for not promptly replying to any comments - will try and keep up.

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  2. Ozlem's Turkish Table25 May 2013 at 21:38

    How exciting to see the original site coming alive step by step; a huge step forward; look forward to hearing the completion of the site, always happy to see the restoration efforts - please keep us posted : )

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  3. Alan25 May 2013 at 22:01

    someone must have known what was underneath the concrete - otherwise why the care?

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  4. Janice25 May 2013 at 22:06

    This is really exciting. How wonderful to see the emergence...or re-emergence of the original building...the archaeologist in you must be delighted. I am delighted to have seen these photos of the developments. J

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  5. Ayak25 May 2013 at 22:41

    I've always disliked that building so am pleased it's being demolished. I really hope they restore the original building, for whatever use. It will be much more pleasant to look at.

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  6. Helen Devries25 May 2013 at 23:16

    I must agree...the remnants are far more attractive than the monstrosity which replaced it.

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  7. ArtyZen25 May 2013 at 23:46

    Hi Annie, wherever you are! How lovely to see this old building emerge from its ugly box. I do hope the good work continues after the summer. I don't know what the 1920s population exchange was but it sounds like it could be a euphemism for something else. I shall away to find about.
    Axxx

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  8. Senior Dogs Abroad26 May 2013 at 13:46

    How very exciting, especially for an archaeologist like you. I'm looking forward to future reports on the progress. What is your opinion about what should happen with the site? It seems like sometimes 'restorations' can turn out to be a bit over the top and slick, even if unintentionally, and even may destroy some of what remained before, e.g., Istanbul's city walls which have been compared to a Hollywood set.

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  9. Jack Scott26 May 2013 at 19:04

    I'm delighted the building is no more. Every time I walked passed it screamed 'hideous' at me! I really hope whatever comes now is tasteful and respectful of the past.

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  10. Anonymous26 May 2013 at 22:58

    Something new to see on our next visit...

    It seems that whenever you scratch the surface here you come up with a new discovery.

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  11. Erica (Irene)27 May 2013 at 15:23

    This is exciting to see the original building....I hate when they destroy some of these old buildings.
    I saw one in Izmir downtown that when they were going to knock it down it they had discovered some Roman structure which was covered up by some other building.
    love your posts....I always learn something new. I'm still sad I didn't get to meet up with you.

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  12. Kathy27 May 2013 at 19:50

    That is fine stonework and I do hope it's re-used in a way that befits the original building. It must have been fun for an archaeologist to watch the modern shell being chipped away and the hidden remains reappearing. One wonders what else lurks under layers of hideous concrete in Bodrum or elsewhere....

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  13. Jay Artale (aka Roving Jay)27 May 2013 at 20:46

    How fabulous that they didn't get rid of the original walls when they built the new building. It will be great to follow the progress of this building and see what it ends up as..

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