[1] Saint Polycarp Church was built in 1625 with the permission of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I and at the request of the French King Louis XIII.

[1][2] The church building was damaged in the 1688 Smyrna earthquake and the fire that broke out in the following months.

[2] The church was restored in 1775 with the contribution of the French King Louis XVI and became a three-nave basilica.

[1][3] In 1820, a marble commemorative plaque was hung in the church in honor of Louis XIII.

[2] The church, in which chapels were added during the restoration carried out between 1892–1989, was decorated with frescoes depicting the life of Polycarp, made by French architect Raymond Charles Péré.