Turkish town hopes for Christian tourism boost

DW (English)

Pope Leo XIV visits the Turkish town of Iznik, fulfilling a trip his predecessor Francis planned to make. DW's correspondent travelled to Iznik ahead of Leo's arrival — and found a town ready to welcome the new pontiff.

Transcript

00:01The small Turkish town of Iznik, a few hours' drive from Istanbul,

00:06doesn't immediately look like a crucial site in Christian history.

00:12It's known for its beautiful Ottoman-style tiles and ceramics,

00:17but now some shops are offering new designs with Christian motifs.

00:24Mevlüt Da shows us a few he made especially for the papal visit.

00:31This tile here shows Jesus' Last Supper.

00:35It's the work of one person and it took a month and a half to complete it.

00:40Ceramics is a difficult craft, which is why we're very happy that it came out so beautifully.

00:48And this one depicts the First Council of Nicaea, which took place here 1,700 years ago.

00:55That is why the Pope is coming to Iznik.

00:58In 325 AD, Constantine the Great gathered hundreds of bishops here from across the Roman Empire.

01:06They drew up the first official declaration of Christian faith.

01:09It's known as the Nicene Creed and remains foundational for Christians around the world to this day.

01:15The First Council of Nicaea is widely seen as one of the most important and influential meetings in Christian history.

01:21And yet, its actual location was, until very recently, unknown.

01:26In 2014, archaeologist Mustafa Shahin discovered these ruins of an ancient Roman basilica.

01:34He tells me he was looking at aerial photos when he spotted the foundations of a large church in the lake.

01:41We conducted underwater excavations here for six to seven years, with divers two metres below the surface of the lake.

01:54But due to global warming, the water level receded over time and this structure was exposed.

02:03Shahin and his team have established that the basilica was built in the late fourth century.

02:09And they believe it's on the very side where the First Council of Nicaea was held.

02:14An open-air museum has recently been set up on the lakeside promenade, where visitors can look at the ruins.

02:21I'm here because I'm a pilgrim. I'm going to Jerusalem on a road trip.

02:28And we wanted to visit important places for Christianity. And this city is one of them.

02:34Isnik today is a sleepy town with less than 50,000 residents and no remaining Christian community.

02:42Some are hoping the Pope's stopover will shine an international spotlight here.

02:48I believe that people will come to Isnik once they learn of its existence.

02:54And I predict a significant increase in the number of foreign tourists.

02:58Of course, we will benefit from this. People will come here for shopping and decorate their homes with our products.

03:05A papal visit to celebrate Isnik's Christian past might well leads new life into this small town's future.

03:18So, where are we going to travel?

03:20Since we are just standing out on a table here.

03:24No.

03:25There's a Priest.

03:31In this place where the two friends come to the city around here, they live in an island.

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