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BASILICA OF ST.
JOHN
St. John's grave was marked by a
memorial and enclosed by a church of
modest proportions in the 4th
century. In the 6th century, Emperor
Justinian (527-565 AD) believed that
a tomb dating from the 300s was
John's, so he built a magnificient
church on the site in the 500s
dedicated to the saint.
The traditional tomb of St. John,
located under the main central dome,
elevated the site to one of the most
sacred sites in the Middle Ages and
thousands made pilgrimage here.
But with the decline in importance
of Ephesus and after Arab raids, the
basilica fell into ruins until the
Seljuk Aydinoglu clan converted it
into a mosque in 1330. The building
was then completely destroyed in
1402 by Tamerlane's Mongol army.
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