Ancient Underwater Church Becomes Visible In Turkey Thanks To Reduced Pollution Amid Lockdown

If there was anything good to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic it'd probably have to be the reduced air and water pollution levels given that human activity has reduced significantly. The world is getting to see long lost sights, possibly after decades.

For instance, this ancient church in Turkey that lies beneath about 10 feet (3 meters) of water, about 160 feet (50 m) from the shore of Lake Iznik, is all the more visible now due to clearer waters.

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According to reports, the hidden church was first discovered back in 2014 has been underwater for 1,600 years.

Mustafa ?ahin, head of archaeology at Bursa Uluda? University had been searching the shores of the lake for several years. He told Live Science, "When I first saw the images of the lake, I was quite surprised to see a church structure that clearly. I was doing field surveys in Iznik [since 2006], and I hadn't discovered such a magnificent structure like that."

The Roman-style church, known as a basilica, was built on the shore of the lake around A.D. 390, when Iznik was known as Nicea and Istanbul was Constantinople. The archaeologists now think this church may hide another treasure beneath it: a pagan temple.

?ahin added that the most important finds included several human graves beneath the basilica's main transverse wall, known as the bema wall, referring to a raised platform used by the clergy.

Several coins found in those graves date from the reigns of the Roman emperors Valens (who ruled from A.D. 364 to 378) and Valentinian II (who ruled from A.D. 375 to 392), which showed the basilica was built after A.D. 390.