St. Baptist Latin Church (DOM), is a magnificent structure which was built by local Catholics living in Buca in 1815, not affiliated with any other church but directly with Vatican.
Also known as Buca DOM Church or St. Baptist Latin Church, St. Jean Baptist Latin Catholic Church was developed and converted to “the DOM Church” by the Roman Church Catholic Foundation in 1840. The church, which took its current form in 1864, is known as one of the oldest halidoms in Buca.
The width of each column reaches 1.5 meters in the church, which was built to withstand even a 9-magnitude earthquake with its construction method. The church is named after John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus Christ.
The interior decorations of the building, which was built on the foundations of an old French church with the special permission of the Ottoman Sultan of the period, is the most important feature that makes the building different from other places of worship. The workmanship and details in the interior decoration, which the church congregation contributed according to their own mastery, did not bring any additional cost to the church budget, and were made entirely with the voluntary contributions of the congregation, so it is referred to as the “Poor Man’s Art”.
Buca DOM Church is also famous by it’s bell which has took an important role for factory workers who used the Buca-Basmane railway route while it was still active. Particularly, the church bell was ringing at 07.00 and 12.00. Despite to being such a part of people of Buca and representing the toleration between religions in the city, the bell has not been ringing anymore since middle of 1980’s.
In 1927, the first year when the Izmir International Fair was held, a huge pipe organ was brought to the church from abroad. The pipe organ is still actively used.
The church, which was designed in the form of Art Neau, still actively serves a small number of congregations who still live in Buca but are not seen much because they have residences outside of Buca.
Where is the St. John Baptist Church? 📍
St. Baptist Latin Church (DOM) Visiting Hours 🕖
St. Jean Baptist Latin Catholic Church currently does not accept visitors without prior appointment. It is absolutely necessary to make an appointment in advance for both pandemic conditions and security reasons.
Telephone: +90 (232) 420 08 42
How to get to St.Baptist Latin Church (DOM)? 🚖
It can be reached to St. Baptist Latin Church after a 5-minute walk by getting off at the Dokuz Eylul Faculty of Education bus stop numbered 40036 with the ESHOT buses numbered 104, 304, 470, 476, 490, 515, 676, 805 and 940.
