Aya Tekla Church

Ayathekla — from the Greek Hagia Thekla — is an early Christian pilgrimage site south of Silifke in Turkey's Mersin province, dedicated to Saint Thekla, one of the most venerated figures of early Christianity. According to apocryphal tradition, Thekla withdrew to a rock grotto here after following the Apostle Paul and surviving multiple attempts on her life, making this one of the oldest documented Christian cult sites in Anatolia. Around 400 AD, a large Byzantine basilica was built over the sacred grotto — likely under imperial patronage — drawing pilgrims from across the eastern Roman world. The site today preserves the basilica's ruined walls, rock-cut tombs, and cisterns set into the Cilician hillside, attracting archaeologists and pilgrims in near equal measure.