Source: Blagovest-Info
Tbilisi, September 14, 2016
A Christian church of the fourth century which was discovered in 2014, twenty meters from shore at the bottom of Lake Iznik in the Turkish province of Bursa, will be opened to visitors, reports Karibche.ambebi.ge.
Restoration of the basilica was carried out over the past several months.
According to Mustafa Sahin, head of the Archeology Department of Bursa (Uludağ) University, the church of the Roman period will be open to the public the first and last Saturdays of every month.
The newly-restored basilica was originally dedicated in honor of the Holy Martyr Neophytes who was slain by Roman legionaries in 303 AD precisely on the site of the church.
According to Turkish archeologists, the church was damaged by an earthquake in 740 AD and subsequently submerged under the lake waters.