The grave of Myra's famous 4th-century bishop—St. Nicholas (aka Santa Claus)—quickly became a pilgrimage site shortly after his death. A church was built around his tomb in the 6th century but later destroyed in an Arab raid. In 1043, St. Nicholas Basilica was rebuilt with the aid of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and the empress Zoë. It was, in turn, heavily restored in the 19th century courtesy of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. (To this day, most visitors to the church—now operated as a museum—are Russian.)
It's difficult to distinguish between parts of the original church and the restorations, although the bell tower and upper story are clearly late additions. The colorful, evocative frescos are reminiscent of the early churches of Cappadocia. The reputed sarcophagus of St. Nicholas is in the southernmost aisle, though his remains were stolen in 1087 and taken to Bari, Italy, where the church of San Nicola di Bari was built to house them. A few bones remained, so the story goes, and these can be seen in the Antalya Museum.
A service is (theoretically, at least) held in the church every year on December 6, the feast day of St. Nicholas. Among his good deeds, the saint is said to have carried out nocturnal visits to the houses of local children to leave gifts, including gold coins as dowries for poor village girls; if a window was closed, said the storytellers, he would drop the gifts down the chimney.
