St. John Basilica

The story goes that Saint John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary, after the death of Jesus, settled in Ephesus between 37 and 48 AD. After the Virgin Mary's death, John went back to Ephesus to write his Gospel on the hill that dominates Selçuk, called Ayasuluk. Conventional wisdom says that the remains of St. John were buried in a tomb in the fourth century, so in the sixth century, Emperor Justinian built the impressive Basilica of St. John on the hill that housed his remains. Over time, successive earthquakes turned it into a pile of rubble until a century ago when it was restored. Virtually nothing remains now of the original building, but it is still an impressive place for its historical importance.