700-Year-Old Church Becomes a Museum

It was learned that the 7-century-old church in Akçaabat, Trabzon will serve as a museum from now on.

St. The restoration of the St. Michael church, which started in 2018, has been completed. It was learned that the 7-century-old church located in Akçaabat town of Trabzon will serve as a museum from now on.

The church in Ortamahalle, which has been declared as an urban site for the protection of the historical structure of Akçabat district, will be put into service for local and foreign tourists after approximately 2 years of restoration.

The restoration made by the Akçaabat municipality cost approximately 1.5 million liras. The municipality is working to finish the preparations for the next tourism period.

Akçaabat Mayor Osman Nuri Ekim, AA said in a statement that the church came from the 11th and 12th centuries until today.

Osman Nuri Ekim, stating that the restoration work started in the time of the previous mayor Şefik Türkmen, said, “It was completed in our time. We made the tender with the contract price of 1.5 million. ” said.

“It was a bit of a challenge, but eventually a beautiful structure emerged. After the tender, the restoration process of the building took 2 years. The restoration inside the church is completely finished. ”

He said that they are carrying out a joint project with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism regarding the transformation of the building into a museum.

Osman Nuri Ekim, “We are currently building toll booths to enter the building. We will have opened it as a museum in 2021. Thus, one more point in Ortamahalle will appeal to tourism. In that area, we have accommodation with the church and our daily facilities. Among the existing restoration plans, there are one or two more chapels in that area. We will make their forward-looking restorations and present them to tourism and tourists in a way that will contribute to tourism.

Stating that there were some figures and objects belonging to that period in the historical building, Ekim said, “We will also exhibit them. Since it is a museum, we can diversify them. But at the first stage, there are objects taken from that period and stored and protected in cultural assets. We will show them. I do not want to give too much details. People should be curious and come and see. As long as the epidemic permits, we plan to open that region to this year’s tourism season”  said.

President of the Association for the Preservation of Natural and Historical Values Assoc. Dr. Coşkun Erüz stated that the building, which will serve as a museum, has a very special and attractive structure with the original architecture of the Byzantine period, exterior works, and floor mosaics.

Erüz emphasized that the museum garden is also suitable for social and cultural activities.