In Hatay, where the heaviest destruction of Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes occurred, the world’s first cave church St. Pierre and the thousands of years old Hatay Castle ruins were not damaged in the earthquake.
In Hatay, one of the provinces where the earthquake caused the most damage, search and rescue and aid activities are carried out intensively in cooperation with the state and citizens.
In parallel with the search and rescue efforts, debris removal operations continue in the city center, where great destruction was experienced. Two important historical monuments of Hatay, where great destruction was experienced in the earthquake, St. Pierre (Saint Peter) Church and the Hatay Castle ruins were not affected at all by the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude tremors.
Built in 29-40 AD, St. Pierre Church is located on the western slope of Stauris Mountain (Haç Mountain) on the Antakya-Reyhanlı road. The church, which consists of a cave with a depth of 13 meters, a width of 9.5 meters and a height of 7 meters carved into the rocks on the slope of the mountain, is considered the “first cave church” in the world. The cave, which is believed to be the first place where St. Peter, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, preached and was declared a “place of worship” by Pope Paul VI in 1963, is considered one of the oldest churches of Christianity.
Hatay Castle, which is the second ruins that did not even suffer any damage in the great earthquake, is among the important structures of the world, founded by Seleucos I. Nikator, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, in 300 BC. The walls of the Hatay Castle, which was expanded with the additions made in the Roman and Byzantine periods and reached a length of 23 thousand 600 meters, are known as the longest city walls in Turkey after the walls in Istanbul.
Right next to Hatay, where the earthquake caused the heaviest damage, St. Pierre Church and Hatay Castle ruins were also viewed with a drone.
