Iznik
Ancient Nicaea, Where The Church Councils Of 325 And 787 Were Held; About Five Kilometres Of Roman And Byzantine Wall, And The Kilns That Supplied Ottoman Tilework. On The UNESCO Tentative List · Iznik, Bursa
Iznik is a small lakeside town inside five kilometres of Roman and Byzantine wall, and two things happened here that shaped a religion. In 325 the first ecumenical council met in this town and produced the Nicene Creed, which most of Christianity still recites; in 787 the seventh council met in the church that still stands in the middle of the street grid and settled the argument about icons. The church - Hagia Sophia of Nicaea, now a working mosque again - has its floor mosaic and fragments of fresco still in place. Later the town became the tile capital of the Ottoman empire: the kilns here made the cobalt and turquoise panels that line the Blue Mosque, Topkapi and Rustem Pasha, the craft died out in the eighteenth century and has been deliberately revived, and you can visit working workshops. In 2014 a basilica was found underwater in the lake, visible from the air and reachable by nobody at all.
Iznik Surlari ve Ayasofya, Iznik, Bursa, Iznik, Bursa, Turkiye
The town and the walls are open at all hours. Hagia Sophia of Nicaea, now a working mosque, closes to visitors around the five daily prayers. The museum and the tile workshops keep daytime hours with a weekly closing day. The lakeside is open year round. The basilica in the lake is underwater and has no visitor access.