Basilica of St. Nicholas, Bari

Barian sailors brought Saint Nicholas's relics from Myra in 1087, fleeing Seljuk control of Asia Minor. Pope Urban II consecrated the crypt in 1089. The basilica, completed by 1197, became a prototype for Apulian Romanesque architecture.

In 1087, the relics of Saint Nicholas lay in Myra (modern Turkey), now under Seljuk Turkish control. Christian pilgrimage routes were disrupted; shrines were at risk. Sixty-two sailors from Bari launched an expedition to rescue the saint's bones. They arrived in Myra, overcame resistance from local monks guarding the shrine, broke into the tomb, gathered the relics, and sailed home. They arrived in Bari on May 9, 1087—a date still celebrated as the Feast of the Translation. Pope Urban II traveled to Bari in 1089 to personally consecrate the crypt and lay the relics beneath the altar. The basilica above was completed by 1197 and became the mother church of Apulian Romanesque architecture.