Küçük Ayvasıl St. Anna Church

Küçük Ayvasıl St. Anna Church in Trabzon is known as the city's oldest surviving church. It was rebuilt in the ninth century, in the reign of the Byzantine emperor Basil I, and still shows the plain, sturdy character of early Byzantine church building.

The plan is a three-aisled basilica running east to west, made up of a naos, a main apse and two side apses. All three apses are semicircular inside and out and project beyond the walls. Two columns inside the naos carry Ionic capitals, and both columns and capitals reflect Roman style. Above the south door is a marble relief that looks Roman in origin and is thought to have been taken from an earlier temple and set here.

The inner walls were plastered over, but frescoes survive beneath. Only one scene can now be made out, the Deposition from the cross, on the south wall of the naos. You can partly discern the reclining body and head of Christ, while the figure of Mary beside him is reduced to a few outlines.