Taksiyarhis Church is the first church in Ayvalık. The church has 3 different periods. It was first built as a small church in the 15th century. In the second period, it was built in a basilica plan with three domes and two floors. The fresco of Paul and Peter presenting the building to God above the bema and the inscription of 1753 above the southern entrance to the garden date from this period. The inscription above the entrance, dated 1844, indicates that the building of the 3rd period had a basilical plan, barrel vault and the upper beams were made entirely of wood. The church has three naves and is entered through three main doors from the narthex on the western façade. In the central nave there is an ambos decorated with a plaster relief of a lion, which is reached by a spiral staircase. Passing by the iconostasis, with marble icons depicting the life of Jesus Christ and decorated with marble reliefs and gold ornaments, one reaches the apse at the back of the church. The 16-windowed wooden U-shaped upper gallery on the second floor of the building is the Gynaikeion, built as a women's section. The wall decorations and paintings show that the building, which was damaged by earthquakes in different periods, was restored and the ornamentation changed. From 1927, the building was used for a long time as the "Tekel Warehouse" and then abandoned. It was restored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2012 and opened in 2013 as a unit of Balıkesir Kuva-yi Milliye Museum under the name of Taksiyarhis Memorial Museum.
TAKSİYARHİS MONUMENT MUSEUM
