The tomb of Saint Nicholas has been discovered by archaeologists in an ancient church in Turkey. The archaeologists uncovered the remains of the church which was submerged by rising sea levels in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages.

The site also includes statues of St. Nicholas, who served as the Bishop of Myra, now Turkey, over 1,600 years ago.

Another church was built on top of the ancient basilica’s foundation to protect the saint’s tomb, but it was not until recently that archaeologists uncover mosaic and stone flooring from the previous sanctuary under the one that stands today that led them to St Nicholas’ final resting place.

“The first church was submerged with the rise of the Mediterranean Sea, and some centuries later, a new church was built above,” Osman Eravsar, chief of the cultural heritage preservation board in Antalya, told the Demirören News Agency last week. “Now we have reached the remains of the first church and the floor on which Saint Nicholas stepped.”

“The tiling of the floor of the first church, on which Saint Nicholas walked, has been unearthed,” he continued.

Experts conducted work at the site in 2017 when they found gaps under the newer church’s floor and spent the past few years carefully removing the mosaic flooring to reveal the ancient foundation.

The tomb is located in St Nicholas Church in Demre, a town in the Antalya district of southern Turkey.

Saint Nicholas, who lived between 270 and 343, is most famous for inheriting money that he gave away to the poor and is the inspiration behind the holiday story of Santa Claus.

The Christian bishop had once gifted three poor sisters a bag of coins each, having discretely thrown the gold into their bedrooms to avoid any embarrassment.

Saint Nicholas is also the inspiration behind Santa Claus.

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