This study examines the transformation of religious and cultural landscapes in the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century, focusing on the construction of new churches by non-Muslim communities following the Tanzimat (1839) and Islahat (1856) reforms. These imperial decrees, which aimed to establish a more egalitarian legal framework, granted Christian communities the right to build and restore places of worship, thereby increasing their public visibility and reinforcing their cultural identity.

Within this context, the city of Samsun and its hinterland emerged as significant centers of demographic and commercial growth. The rapid expansion of the Greek Orthodox population, particularly in Samsun and Bafra, was accompanied by the construction of churches and schools that articulated communal identity through architecture. Among these monuments, the Hagios Demetrios Church in Antyeri stands out as a representative example of nineteenth-century Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical architecture. Built on a three-aisled basilical plan, the church reflects a widespread architectural tradition that had been employed since Early Christianity and continued to shape Post-Byzantine and provincial structures across Anatolia and the Black Sea region.

The church’s western façade, distinguished by its rare twin bell towers, underscores both its liturgical function and its symbolic role within the community. The incorporation of bell towers into church plans after the Tanzimat reforms illustrates the renewed freedom of Christian communities to express their religious identity through architectural form. Although later converted into a mosque, which obscured much of its original interior design, Hagios Demetrios Church remains a significant monument that embodies the cultural presence of the Greek Orthodox community in late Ottoman Samsun and reflects the multi-confessional character of the empire’s urban fabric.