Church-Mosque of Vefa

Coordinates: 41°0′59″N 28°57′37″E / 41.01639°N 28.96028°E / 41.01639; 28.96028
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Church-Mosque of Vefa
Vefa Kilise Camii
Year consecrated
shortly after 1453
Location
LocationIstanbul, Turkey
Church-Mosque of Vefa is located in Istanbul Fatih
Church-Mosque of Vefa
Location in the Fatih district of Istanbul
Geographic coordinates41°0′59″N 28°57′37″E / 41.01639°N 28.96028°E / 41.01639; 28.96028
Architecture
Typechurch with cross-in-square plan
StyleMiddle Byzantine - Comnenian
Completed10th - 11th century
Specifications
Minaret(s)1
Materialsbrick, stone

Church-Mosque of Vefa (Turkish: Vefa Kilise Camii, meaning "the church mosque of Vefa", to distinguish it from the other kilise camiler of Istanbul: also known as Molla Gürani Camii after the name of his founder) is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans in Istanbul. The church was possibly dedicated to Hagios Theodoros (St. Theodore,[1][2] in Greek: Ἅγιος Θεόδωρος ἑν τὰ Καρβουνάρια), but this dedication is far from certain.[3] The complex represents one of the most important examples of Comnenian and Palaiologan architecture of Constantinople.[4]

Location

The building lies in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih, in the neighborhood of Vefa. It is situated less than one kilometer to the northwest of the other great Byzantine building in Vefa (the mosque of Kalenderhane), and a few hundred meters south of the Süleymaniye Mosque.

History

The mosque viewed from the southeast in a drawing of 1877, from A.G. Paspates' Byzantine topographical studies

The origin of the building, which lies on the southern slope of the third hill of

Roman Catholic
church.

Shortly after the

Şeyhülislam[7] and the first Mufti of Istanbul. The mosque is also named after him. In the 19th century the mosque was badly damaged, possibly by the fire which in 1833 ravaged the surrounding quarter.[7] In 1848 the complex was restored: in that occasion the mosaics which adorned the building were largely destroyed.[7] It is also possible that at the same time the parekklesion was pulled down, and the four columns at the center of the church were substituted with pillars.[7] In 1937, the building underwent a partial restoration, and its surviving mosaics were uncovered and cleaned.[7] Another restoration started in 2017 and was finished in 2021.[10][11]

Architecture and decoration

The south dome of the exonarthex with the partially covered mosaics.

The church proper, which has never been studied systematically,[3] has a cross-in-square (or quincunx) plan, with each side nine meters long.[12] Together with the Eski Imaret Mosque, provides an example of the Komnenian style in Constantinople. Its masonry consists of bricks, mounted adopting the technique of the recessed brick, typical of the Byzantine architecture of the middle period.[13] In this technique, alternate courses of brick are mounted behind the line of the wall, and are plunged into a mortar bed. Due to that, the thickness of the mortar layers is about three times greater than that of the brick layers.

The building has blind arcades, and the apse is interrupted by a triple lancet window with niches over it. The light penetrates into the cross arms through triple arcades. The exterior of the main church has occasional decorative motifs, such as snake patterns.

Besides this building, the complex contains also an

parekklesion[14] with the bema
) with columns and arches to the south, and finally a corridor to the north.

The Exonarthex's façade in a drawing of Alexander Van Millingen (Byzantine Churches of Constantinople, 1912)

The exonarthex represents one of the most typical examples of Palaiologan architecture in Constantinople,

Chora Churches.[16]
Its façade has two orders, both opened with arcades. On the lower order there are angular niches followed by triple arcades. The higher order is quite different from the lower, and has five semicircular blind arcades framing windows. The masonry is made of banded and colorful brickwork and stonework, especially visible on the north side. Overall, the execution is less refined than in the parekklesion of the
Fethiye Mosque.[16]

The exonarthex is surmounted by three

prophets and two imperial officers with prophets.[2] The interior of the church proper, on the contrary, has never been de-plastered up to now.[2]

Two fairly large underground cisterns placed to the S and W of the church hint to the existence of a monastery in the Byzantine age.[6]

  • Molla Gurani facade from left corner
    Molla Gurani facade from left corner
  • Molla Gurani facade from left corner
    Molla Gurani facade from left corner
  • Molla Gurani dome
    Molla Gurani dome
  • Molla Gurani facade detail
    Molla Gurani facade detail

References

  1. St. Theodore Stratelates
    ("the general"). A joint dedication could also have been possible. Van Millingen (1912), p. 245
  2. ^ a b c d e Janin (1953), p. 155
  3. ^ a b c d e Mathews (1976), p. 386.
  4. ^ Van Millingen (1912), p. 246.
  5. ^ Janin (1964), sub vocem
  6. ^ a b Mamboury (1953), p. 303
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 169.
  8. ^ a b Gülersoy (1976), p. 207.
  9. Pierre Gilles
    , the church of Hagios Theodoros lay in the surroundings of today's Church-Mosque.
  10. ^ "Molla Gürani Camii nerede | 700 yıllık mozaikler ortaya çıktı! İsimleri Tevrat'ta geçiyor" (in Turkish). ahaber. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Peygamber mozaikleri ortaya çıktı" (in Turkish). cnn Türk. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  12. ^ Krautheimer (1986), p. 407.
  13. ^ Krautheimer (1986), p. 400.
  14. ^ The parekklesion is a chapel leaning to the side of the church or of the narthex.
  15. ^ Krautheimer (1986), p. 483.
  16. ^ a b Krautheimer (1986), p. 484.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vefa Kilise Mosque.
  • Janin, Raymond (1953). La Géographie Ecclésiastique de l'Empire Byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique. 3rd Vol. : Les Églises et les Monastères (in French). Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines.
  • Mamboury, Ernest (1953). The Tourists' Istanbul. Istanbul: Çituri Biraderler Basımevi.
  • Janin, Raymond (1964). Constantinople Byzantine (in French) (2 ed.). Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Church-Mosque_of_Vefa&oldid=1267050663"