Archaeologists Uncover First Council Church Remains in İznik, Turkey

Archaeologists working in İznik, Bursa, have uncovered wall and floor‑tile fragments and a column base belonging to the 4th‑century St. Neophytos Church, the site where the First Council of Nicaea convened in 325 AD. The excavations, begun in 2015 with the permission of Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the support of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, are led by Prof. Dr. Mustafa Şahin of Bursa Uludağ University. Şahin noted that the team now includes scholars from Italy’s Calabria and Catanzaro Magna Graecia universities, saying, “We have an international team working together.”

The new finds show that the original church’s floor extends beyond the later Holy Fathers Church built after the 368 earthquake, confirming that the earlier structure lies beneath the current building. Among the artifacts, a gold ring with palm‑tree and sword motifs was recovered; Şahin linked its style to Umayyad and Abbasid periods, suggesting the ring reflects the Umayyad siege of İznik in 729. He described the discovery as “a great find or discovery.”