From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Gemiler Island

Island in Turkey

Summary

Island in Turkey

Field	Value
name	Gemiler Island (originally Gemile)
native_name	Gemiler Adası (originally Gemile)
sobriquet	St. Nicholas Island
image_name	Gemiler Adası kalıntıları.jpg
image_size	250px
image_caption	A view from the ruins on island.
location	Mediterranean Sea near Fethiye
coordinates
area_km2
length_km	1
width_km
coastline_km
highest_mount
country	Turkey

Gemiler Island (, ) is an island located off the coast of Turkey near the city of Fethiye. On the island are the remains of several churches built between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, along with a variety of associated buildings. Archaeologists believe it was the location of the original tomb of Saint Nicholas. The original Turkish name is Gemile from the Greek word καμήλα (kamila) meaning camel, so called because of its geographical shape (see Fethiye Gemile Island Archaeological Site).

History

The Byzantine ruins of five Greek churches built between the fourth and sixth centuries AD remain on the island, along with a 350 m processional walkway. Other remains from the same period include around forty other ecclesiastical buildings and over fifty Christian tombs. One of the churches was cut directly from the rock at the island's highest point, and is located at the far western end of the processional walkway. It is possible that the Island was used by Christian pilgrims en route to the Holy Lands.

Modern archaeologists believe that the island may be the location of St. Nicholas' original tomb. The traditional Turkish name for the island is Gemiler Adası, meaning "Island of Boats", which may be a reference to St. Nicholas's role as the patron saint of sailors; the island was also referred to as St. Nicholas Island by seafarers in the medieval period. Archaeologists believe he was interred in the rock-hewn church following his death in 326. His relics remained there until the 650s, when the island was abandoned as it was threatened by an Arab fleet. They were then moved to the town of Myra some 25 mi to the east.

Economy

The island is currently a popular destination for large Turkish gulets (for instance from Ölüdeniz), bringing many tourists to the island as well as many smaller private boats since the crescent-shaped bay can be used as a safe anchorage. The Byzantine ruins can be seen from the sea. A small makeshift restaurant stands in the bay for the summer sailors. A charge of 125 TL is currently levied upon visitors to the ruins.

References

Eskenazi, Gerald. (28 June 1998). "The Boating Report; Cruising Along the Turkish Coast, Comfortably". The New York Times.
Keys, David. (17 December 1993). "Santa's tomb is found off Turkey: Academics claim to have found where St Nicholas was buried. David Keys reports". The Independent.
Neville, Pam. (21 August 2008). "Viewing history from the shoreline". nzherald.co.nz.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

uninhabited-islands-of-turkey fethiye islands-of-muğla-province islands-of-turkey

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Gemiler Island — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report