Church of the Taxiarchs, Cunda

Religious Sites Marmara Balıkesir

The Church of the Archangels or Taxiarchs' Church (Turkish: Taksiyarhis Kilisesi) is a historically significant Greek Orthodox church, dating back to 1873 and located in Cunda Island of the Ayvalık di...

Church of the Taxiarchs, Cunda - Balıkesir
Photo: Ollios · CC BY-SA 3.0

About Church of the Taxiarchs, Cunda

The Church of the Archangels or Taxiarchs' Church (Turkish: Taksiyarhis Kilisesi) is a historically significant Greek Orthodox church, dating back to 1873 and located in Cunda Island of the Ayvalık district in Turkey—an area formerly inhabited primarily by Greeks. Following the massacres of local Greeks during the Greek genocide and the Pontic Greek genocide between 1914 and 1923, and the subsequent expulsion of the survivors, the building nowadays houses one of the Rahmi M. Koç museums.

The Taxiarchs' Church was built in 1873 by local Ottoman Greeks. Following the massacres of Greeks in the province and their final expulsion during the population exchange in 1923, the bell from the church tower was used during the Second World War to sound alarms and convey information to the public. The churches on the island were looted and turned into warehouses and stables, the lamps and holy images in them were broken, paintings of art destroyed and houses rendered uninhabitable. For a short period from 1921 to 1922, the island was the see of a Greek Orthodox metropolitan bishop, while the neoclassical mansion of the last metropolitan, Ambrosios Pleianthidis, who was executed by the Turkish army, still survives on the seafront of the island's town center.

It was later discovered that the church's bell was one of the largest in the world. The bell is housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.

This description is taken from Wikipedia and published under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Taxiarches Church

Location and Access

Church of the Taxiarchs, Cunda is located in Marmara district, Balıkesir. Coordinates are 39.33300, 26.65800. You can get directions from the map below. You can request a licensed local guide for Balıkesir.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Church of the Taxiarchs, Cunda is located in Marmara, Balıkesir. Coordinates: 39.33300, 26.65800.

A visit of 1-2 hours is usually enough; it can be combined with other stops nearby into a half-day route.

Yes. You can request a licensed local guide in Balıkesir and visit Church of the Taxiarchs, Cunda with a professional tour guide.

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