St. Nicholas, known as Santa Claus, was born in Patara in 243 AD and settled in Demre in 285 AD. St Nicholaus, who also served as the bishop of Myra, died in 326 AD and was buried in this church which was converted into a museum. In 1087, merchants from Bari robbed the tomb of St Nicholaus, stole the bones of St Nicholaus, kidnapped him to Bari, and built a church in Bari for his name. The remains of the stolen bones are now exhibited in the Antalya archaeological museum.
The church of St Nicholaus, whose construction began in the 5th century AD but took many years to complete, is one of the historical buildings visited by the Orthodoxes.
In time, the church was buried under the floodwaters and was uncovered as a result of excavations in 1956. Every year, on the 6th of December, the anniversary of the death of St Nicholaus, church services are held. It was understood from the inscriptions that the church was destroyed in 1034 due to the Arab raids and attacks from the sea.
The museum is easily accessible from Demre and the visiting hours are:
From 15 April to 2 October between 08:00 and 19:00.
From October 3rd and April 14th between 08:00 and 17:00.
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