Kuruköprü Memorial Church

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East side, apse
portal

The memorial church of Kuruköprü ( Turkish Kuruköprü Anıt Kilisesi ) is the former Greek Orthodox church of Agios Nikolaos from the early 19th century. It is located on Ziyapaşa Boulevard in the southern Turkish port city of Adana . After the persecution of the Greeks from Asia Minor , the church stood empty and, structurally adapted, housed archaeological and ethnographic exhibitions for decades. Returned to its original shape, it now serves as a historical site and is open as a museum.

history

The church was built by the Greek community in the Kuruköprü district of the Seyhan district in 1845 and served as a Christian place of worship dedicated to Saint Nicholas (Aya Nikola) until the persecution of the local Greek minority in the 1910s . After the final expulsion of the surviving Greeks in the course of the population exchange with Greece in the 1920s, the church was converted into an Archaeological Museum in 1950 . For this purpose, the collections and exhibits from the medrese of the former Cafer Pascha mosque near the Taşköprü Bridge were relocated to the church. From 1983 the church housed the newly founded Ethnographic Museum of Adana. From 2013 to 2015 it was restored to its original appearance and officially renamed the Kuruköprü Memorial Church on January 5, 2016 .

The right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) opposed the alleged conversion of the building into a church in the Grand National Assembly . It was criticized that it was renamed “of all people” on January 5th, the “day of Adana's liberation”. According to the MP and deputy chairman of the MHP, Mevlüt Karakaya, Adana was " purged of French and Armenians " that day; He ignored the fact that the building was originally built as a Greek church.

Web links

Commons : Kuruköprü Memorial Church  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yenilenerek Açılışa Hazır Hale Getirilen Müzeler. In: www.kulturvarliklari.gov.tr. Retrieved June 16, 2016 .
  2. ^ Kuruköprü Kilisesi Müzesi. Ahaport, accessed June 16, 2016 .
  3. ↑ MHP'li Karakaya: İşgalci zihniyet işbaşında! In: www.adanayorum.com. Retrieved June 16, 2016 .

Coordinates: 36 ° 59 ′ 23 ″  N , 35 ° 19 ′ 22 ″  E