The history of “All Saints British Protestant Church “
The original chapel was built in 1838 with the current building being built in 1865. Its original name, as it appears in the engraved marble plaque, was “All Saints British Protestant Church.” In the 1800’s, the village of Buca, located about 10 km from the center of Izmir, was populated by Levantine families. These were mostly British, although there were some Greeks, French and Germans as well living together in Budjah as Buca was spelled before the Turkish Latin alphabet was adopted in the 1930’s. Rich businessmen used to go into town in their horse-drawn carriages in the morning and return home in the evening. The Christians felt the need in their neighborhood for a church, so they bought a large plot of land to use both for their Christian cemetery and for the stone cross-shaped church. The church and the beautifully carved cemetery monuments and crosses greatly resemble ones back home in England. The church was used for worship up until about 1960 when it was donated to the Buca municipality. From this time until 1999, the municipality used it first as a city hall and later for marriage ceremonies. It was used from 1999 to 2001 as a culture and art center. The Izmir Independent Protestant Church (Baptists) began using the church for worship in April 2001.