Christian Heritage · 7 sites
In the opening chapters of the Book of Revelation, John addresses seven Christian communities, and every one of them lay in what is now western Turkey. What survives is not seven chapels but seven ancient cities, from the marble streets of Ephesus to the quiet ruins of Laodicea, and together they make one of the great biblical journeys.
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Paul spent more than two years in Ephesus, and his preaching here once set the whole city in uproar in its great theatre. Walk the same marble streets, then climb to the Basilica of St John and the hillside House of the Virgin Mary. Few places hold so much of the early Christian story within a few miles.
Revelation praises Smyrna for holding fast through persecution, and the city later gave the Church one of its most revered martyrs, Bishop Polycarp. Today ancient Smyrna lies beneath the bustle of İzmir. Step down into the vaulted arcades of its Roman agora and the old city suddenly feels very close.
High above the plain, Pergamon was a proud royal city, and Revelation's letter speaks of it as the place where Satan has his throne. Down in the town below, the immense red-brick walls of the Red Basilica still stand. Built as a temple to Egyptian gods, it was later turned into a church.
Thyatira was a town of guilds and dyers, and the Book of Acts names it as the home of Lydia, the seller of purple cloth whom Paul baptised in Philippi. Its ruins are small, a few columns and arches in the middle of modern Akhisar. Yet standing among them, the letter to Thyatira feels close at hand.
Once the capital of the fabulously rich Lydian kings, Sardis was warned in Revelation that it had a name for being alive but was asleep. Today the city is wide awake with discovery. A grand gymnasium, a vast ancient synagogue with mosaic floors and a small church beside the Temple of Artemis tell its long story.
Philadelphia received only encouragement in Revelation, the promise of an open door that no one can shut. Most of the ancient city lies under modern Alaşehir. But the massive brick pillars of its Byzantine church of St John rise from a quiet garden in the centre of town, a striking link to that faithful community.
Wealthy Laodicea is remembered for Revelation's sharp words about a faith neither hot nor cold. Its ruins are among the most rewarding in western Turkey, with colonnaded streets, theatres and one of the oldest known church buildings in Anatolia. The hot springs of Hierapolis and the white terraces of Pamukkale are a short drive away.
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Christian Heritage
4 sitesBiblical Sites & the Journeys of St PaulAntioch, Tarsus and Perge, on the roads of the apostles.
6 sitesSacred Churches & Pilgrimage SitesThe House of the Virgin Mary, St Nicholas and the churches of Istanbul.
7 sitesCappadocia's Rock-Cut Churches & MonasteriesPainted cave churches and monasteries carved into volcanic rock.
3 sitesAncient Councils & the Foundations of ChristianityNicaea, Ephesus and the places where Christian belief took shape.
5 sitesEastern Christian Heritage & Historic MonasteriesThe Syriac monasteries of Mardin and the Armenian churches of Lake Van.Ready when you are
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