ISTANBUL, TURKEY—Hurriyet Daily News reports that researchers from Istanbul Municipality’s Cultural Heritage Department discovered a 1,500-year-old tunnel while exploring the remains of Saint Polyeuktos Church, which was built between A.D. 524 and 527 and stood until about the eleventh century. The passageway was lined with marble and decorated with reliefs. A 1,900-year-old Roman statue, bronze coins, stamped bricks, marble fragments, pottery, oil lamps, and glass and metal artifacts have also been uncovered during the recent excavations. To read about a submerged church found 100 miles from Istanbul, go to "Sunken Byzantine Basilica," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2014.
Byzantine-Era Tunnel Found in Istanbul
News April 11, 2023
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2025
Dead Drunk

Digs & Discoveries September/October 2025
A Day at the Hunt

Features July/August 2025
The Home of the Weather God
In northern Anatolia, archaeologists have discovered the source of Hittite royal power

Features May/June 2025
Goddess at the Crossroads
Why a city put its trust in a Greek deity feared throughout the Mediterranean world

-
Features March/April 2023
The Shaman's Secrets
9,000 years ago, two people were buried in Germany with hundreds of ritual objects—who were they?
Photographs Juraj Lipták -
Letter from the Faroes March/April 2023
Lost History of the Sheep Islands
New evidence shows that the remote North Atlantic archipelago was settled hundreds of years before the Vikings reached its shores
(Polhansen/Adobe Stock) -
Artifacts March/April 2023
Andean Wind Instruments
(Luis Manuel González La Rosa) -
Digs & Discoveries March/April 2023
Peru’s Lost Temple
(Courtesy Sâm Ghavami)