Selçuk - Basilica of St John

A short distance from the main square of Selçuk, the lower ward of the citadel is entered through the Byzantine Gate, also called the Gate of Persecution, erected in the seventh century using fragments of earlier masonry. A few paces beyond this are the remains of the Basilica of St John, which occupied almost the whole breadth of the hill and ranked with Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Apostles (destroyed) in Constantinople as one of the largest Byzantine churches. According to tradition the grave of St John the Divine is under the church. Originally a mausoleum with a domed roof borne on four columns was built over the grave.

The Emperor Justinian (527-65) replaced this church by a monumental three-aisled