Samsun Tekkeköy Mayor Hasan Togar said that they are working to bring the Altınkaya Church in the district to tourism.
Tekkeköy Mayor Hasan Togar stated that they continue to work uninterruptedly to put the important historical structures in the district into the service of tourism.
The historical Greek church, located on the roadside in the Altınkaya District of Tekkeköy district, is under protection in the category of Religious and Cultural Buildings with the decision numbered 3889 of the Samsun Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Regional Board on 30 June 2000, the property of which belongs to the Treasury of Finance, will be restored in the future.
“WE HAVE REVIEWED”
President Togar, who stated that they are working uninterruptedly to put historical buildings at the service of tourism, and who made examinations in the Altınkaya Church, which was left by the Greeks who migrated as per the Lausanne Exchange Agreement signed in Lausanne-Switzerland on January 30, 1923, said, ”We continue to work uninterruptedly in order to put our historical, natural and touristic values, the important historical structures of the world cultural heritage, at the service of tourism. Within the scope of the projects we have prepared to bring the historical structure in our Altınkaya Neighborhood to tourism, together with our headman, we made examinations in our historical Altınkaya Church, which is taken under protection.”
“IT WILL NOT OPEN TO WORSHIP”
Şeref Aydın, Director of Culture and Social Affairs of Tekkeköy Municipality, said, “The Historical Church is located in our Altınkaya Neighborhood. It is one of our registered buildings within the scope of restoration. It will be restored in the coming years by our Tekkeköy Municipality under the supervision and control of the Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Regional Board, Samsun Archeology and Ethnography Museum Directorate. The. church will not be open for worship when it is restored, we do not have such authority. But we will do our best to bring it to tourism.”
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
The church; Tekkeköy district is located on the roadside of Asarağaç Village, the old name of which is ‘Kelkaya’ and its new name is ‘Altınkaya’, and it is located on a hill overlooking the Çarşamba Plain at the foot of Asarağaç Hill. It is a single-storey church, which remained from the Greeks who migrated as per the Lausanne Exchange Agreement signed in Lausanne-Switzerland on January 30, 1923. The walls of the church are made of rubble stone. The apse (located behind the choir in churches, similar to the Mihrab of Mosques, semicircular or semi-polygon shaped, mostly covered with vaults), the corners where the windows, doors and walls meet, and the upper edge were built of smooth cut stone. The upper part of the south facade, where the entrance door to the church is located, is triangular in shape.
There is a small window above the door. There are two large windows and a small window on the west facade. On the east facade, there is an arched door and two large and small windows, the sides of which are surrounded by three moldings. On the north facade, there is a small window on both side niches (in the wall cavity) and it is seen that some stones were removed from the walls of the apse in the middle. The interior of the church consists of three naves (corridor-shaped sections separated by supports. It is called the nave in mosques). The middle nave is wider than the others. The middle nave is covered with three separate domes, while the side naves are covered with vaults (a roof style used to cover corridors and long, narrow spaces, the upper half of a hollow cylinder).
The carrying principle of the vaults is similar to the dome. The difference is that the load is transferred only to the right and left (on the two walls), not to each side. A loaded vault will want to open and expand. This is usually solved by placing a steel tension member between the two walls. The dome in the middle sits on four columns with caps, and the other two domes sit on the pillars on the wall. The domes were destroyed in places. The apse of the church, which consists of three nodes, protrudes outward. (Samsungazetesi, Gazetegerçek)
