Demre

Saint Nicholas Church is in Demre. Saint Nicholas does his work as a bishop in this church, which was built earlier. When Saint Nicholas died, his funeral was held in this church. His sarcophagus, from the Late Roman period, is in the south aisle. The church has three aisles, two narthexes and a courtyard. It was extended in the 6th century. The church was damaged during the 7th-9th centuries. Emperor Constantine Monomachos (1042-1055) and his wife Zoe repaired it and surrounded it with a wall in the 11th century. Saint Nicholas’s sarcophagus was broken and robbed by Italian merchants. His bones were taken to Bari in Italy in 1087. The church was repaired in the 19th and 20th centuries. It became famous because of Father Christmas in 1950.