Küçük Ayvasıl, the church of St Anna in Trabzon, carries a repair inscription of 884-885 over its door — a repair, so the building is older still. That repair was made in the reign of Basil I. A repair inscription is not a founding date, and the provincial directorate of culture and tourism calls it one of the oldest churches in the city — the building was already standing and already needing work in the ninth century. A Byzantine relief is set at the same entrance.
It is a three-aisled basilica without a narthex, and the aisles are rounded both inside and out. There is a crypt below the floor. In the naos two T-shaped piers stand together with two columns carrying Ionic capitals, and the walls keep remains of frescoes belonging to later periods than the inscription.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Trabzon as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 7.3 °C in February to 23.5 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in October (113 mm) and lightest in July (37 mm). Long-term means for 1927-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
Visiting hours
- Hours
- 08:00 - 17:00
