Conny Waters – MessageToEagle.com – A stone chest has been discovered in Balatlar Church in Sinop, northern Turkey.
Archaeologists say the chest is believed to have stored fragments of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
A stone chest found in Balatlar Church in Sinop. Image credit: DHA
Already named as the “Holystone” by the Christian world, the chest is now being kept in Sinop Archaeological Museum, reports Daily Sabah.
The church, where fragments of the cross of Jesus Christ have been found, was a former Roman temple converted by the Byzantines into a rectangular basilica in 660 AD. The church is located in the northern province of Sinop, Turkey, on the shores of the Black Sea.
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The archaeologists have been excavating an ancient 1,350-year-old church since 2009. Earlier during excavations, the archaeologists found more than 2,000 skeletons at the site.
All frescoes of Jesus, Mary, mother of Jesus and saints are heavily damaged because of the human and weather factors.
Initiated nine years ago with the support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry in Sinop Province, excavations at the Balatlar building complex are still ongoing. The building complex, the only ancient building in Sinop whose use is known due to its large walls from the late Roman imperial period, has a history dating back some 2,300 years.
During the large-scale excavation led by Gülgün Köroğlu, a professor in the Art History Department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, the altar section of the structure that was used as a church in the fifth century is being unearthed.
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Sinop is one of the oldest human settlements in the world. He emphasized that during the nine years of excavation work, they excavated 2,000 works that are exhibited in the museum and 11,000 works that are stored in the warehouse. He noted that all of these works came from this excavation area.
” We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross, and we think it was [part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified]. This stone chest is very important to us. It has a history and is the most important artifact we have unearthed so far,” said Professor Gülgün Köroğlu who headed the excavation team.
Written by Conny Waters – MessageToEagle.com – AncientPages.com Staff Writer