The Orthodox Church of St. Voucolos of Izmir was the only church to have survived the fire of Smyrna in 1922, following the collapse of the Greek Asia Minor military campaign, the defeat of which led to the evacuation of the Greek community in Asia Minor.

It was on February 14, 1924, 17 months after those dramatic events when the leader of the Turkish state Kemal Ataturk gave orders for the church to be turned into a Museum. In 2009, the City of Izmir decided to restore the interior and turn the building into a cultural centre. On February 6, for the first time since 1922, His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Divine Liturgy inside the Church. “Nowadays, in many places across the world, Muslims, Christians and Jews live together in harmony. […] It is us who must give the positive example of coexistence,” said the Patriarch.

See also: A catalogue of former churches of Smyrna