Postcard views of St. Polycarp’s tomb

The shrine seems to be bordered by a Moslem cemetery. Like much of the Christian heritage of the city, this location has suffered by the tumultous events accompanying the retaking of the city by Turkish forces in 1922. All traces of the building are lost today, and the location is or near to the air force martyrdom memorial of today - photos of area today.

view of the area in 1920

The ‘chapel of the tomb of St. Polycarp’ as photographed by Rubelin and the photographer’s stamp gives this Frenchman’s address as Parisienne passage, Psaro Khan, Rue Franque, Smyrna, as seen in late 19th century.
However this information is incorrect, as it is a slightly different location, this appears to be a now a totally ruined church, probably within the walls of the castle of Pagus [Kadifekale], possibly the St. Voukolos (Ai Vuklas) as mentioned in his book ‘The church of Izmir’ by Solomonidis.

An archive (turn of the century?) view of a group of Catholic priests visiting the ancient stadium, the place of St. Polycarp’s martyrdom. The orientation is problematic, if we are looking at the ‘sfendoni’ then it is west/south west. So, Kadifekale [Mount Pagus] must be further to the left. Source: The magazine ‘Presence’ (no. 143, year 16, no. 2, February 2001) of the Catholic Church of Turkey.

Result of a photo match between the modern city plan and the ancient theatre of Smyrna on trace map, see this overlaid on google earth through this file - work courtesy of Achilleas Chatziconstantinou, 2006.

An illuminating picture from the book ‘Smyrna: the city of Smyrna before the destruction, Nea Synora A. A. Livani Publications, Athens, 1991’. The photo apparently shows the stadium, though from the opposite angle, looking towards the sea. The field looks cultivated (vineyards?) and the fence stands complete. I have seen it hundreds of times before and I never guessed it was the stadium! The caption does not say anything, other than mentioning the name of Abbé Le Camus and the nice view towards the gulf. But, looking at the right side: St. Polykarp’s lonely cypress tree and tomb! Plus the curving of the ground so, it is the stadium afterall.
The photo was reprinted from the book: ‘Smyrna - Pictures of Greece, Art Editions Boissonnas, Geneva, 1919’.
It is therefore later than the other one with the Catholic priests. The population growth after First World War [or food shortages caused by the British naval blockade during WWI] was obviously responsible for the cultivating of every open field that there was, even as remote or ‘holy’ as the Roman stadium - image and analysis courtesy of Achilleas Chatziconstantinou, 2007.