Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols

Coordinates: 41°01′47″N 28°56′56″E / 41.029722°N 28.948889°E / 41.029722; 28.948889
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Church of St. Mary of the Mongols
Παναγία Μουχλιώτισσα
Byzantine Architecture
CompletedShortly after 1281

Saint Mary of the Mongols (full name in

Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul. It is the only surviving[1] Byzantine church of Constantinople that has never been converted to a mosque, always remaining open to the Greek Orthodox Church
.

Location

The church is located in the neighborhood of Fener, Fatih district. It lies on Tevkii Cafer Mektebi Sokak, at the summit of a slope overlooking the Golden Horn, and near the imposing building of the Phanar Greek Orthodox College. The church lies behind a high wall and all the doors are usually closed; however, the church is open to the public, but requires visitors to ring the doorbell near the entrance.

History

Inside the church

At the beginning of the 7th century, Princess Sopatra (daughter of the

Great Lavra, on mount Athos. During the Latin domination after the Fourth Crusade
, the monastery disappeared.

In 1261, after the reconquest of the city by the Byzantines, Isaac

Michael VIII Palaiologos, rebuilt a simple, one-storey monastery, dedicated to the Theotokos Panaghiotissa.[2] In 1266, the building was enlarged, and a painter, named Modestos, decorated it.[3]

The church in 1877

In 1281,

chrysobull certifying the purchase of the nunnery from Maria Palaiologina, but the document was deemed false, so that the Patriarchate restored the rights of the nuns.[3]
The nunnery existed until the end of the Empire, then was abandoned.

On May 29, 1453, the day of the

standard bearer who found his death fighting here.[5]

firmans
of Mehmed II and Bayazid II, which granted ownership of the church to the Greek community

Tradition holds that Sultan

Bayazid II, in recognition of the services of the nephew of Christodoulos, who built the mosque bearing that sultan's name.[6]

Under Sultans

Grand Vizier Ali Koprülü at the end of the seventeenth century, was thwarted by Dimitrie Cantemir) but, thanks to the grants of Mehmed II and Bayazid II, the church remained a parish of the Greek community. Thus, Saint Mary of the Mongols is one among the few Byzantine churches of Istanbul whose ancient dedication was never forgotten.[7]

Damaged several times (in 1633, 1640 and 1729) by fires that ravaged Fener, the building was repaired and enlarged, losing altogether its primitive elegance.

Istanbul Pogrom, but since then it has been restored.[7]

Description

Entry to the church compound. The sign, in Turkish only, describes the church as "Meryem Ana Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi". The same name is mentioned by the Patriarchate as well.[8] The Phanar Greek Orthodox College can be seen in the background.

The complex lies behind a high wall, and it is usually not open to the public. Although it has always remained in Greek hands, the building has been modified much more heavily than those converted into mosques. It has, or originally had, a tetraconch plan with a central dome enclosed by a tower, which renders it a unicum in the Byzantine architecture of Constantinople and, on a much smaller scale surprisingly anticipates those of many great Ottoman mosques.[9]

The dome rests on a cross formed by four half-domes. The narthex has three bays, whose central bay is covered by a barrel vault. On the south side, the church has been demolished and rebuilt, and the southern half dome and the southern bay of the narthex have been removed and replaced by three aisles. The interior has been stripped of the original decoration, but it is filled with icons and other ornaments, making an examination of the church very difficult.

On the eastern wall there is a large representation of the

Last Judgement, perhaps painted by Modestos in 1266. Moreover, noteworthy are a mosaic
Icon from the eleventh century portraying the Theotokos, and four Icons dating from the thirteenth and fourteenth century.

Under the church are visible excavations, and an underground passage said to reach Hagia Sophia (although the two buildings are several kilometers apart). Despite its historical importance, the church has never been studied from an architectural point of view.

References

  1. ^ After the Conquest the Greeks were allowed to keep another small church, named Saint George of the Cypresses, but it wholly burned down (together with the trees surrounding it) during the great fire of Samatya in 1782. The church was then rebuilt in 1832 on a much larger scale. Mamboury (1953), p. 221.
  2. ^ a b c Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 204.
  3. ^ a b Janin (1953), p. 221.
  4. ^ According to another source, the appellation originates from the castle of Mouchlion near Mystras, in the Peloponnese. Its inhabitants were relocated to Fener by Mehmet II. Mamboury (1953) pg.99
  5. ^ Mamboury (1953), p. 249.
  6. ^ Van Millingen (1912), p. 276.
  7. ^ a b c Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 205.
  8. ^ Archbishopric of Constantinople Archived 2010-11-26 at the Wayback Machine. This church appears as No. 1 in the District of Phanar, as "Dormition of the Mother of God of Mouchlion" and "Meryem Ana Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi".
  9. ^ Mamboury, p. 249.

Sources

  • Van Millingen, Alexander (1912). Byzantine Churches of Constantinople. London: MacMillan & Co.
  • Mamboury, Ernest (1953). The Tourists' Istanbul. Istanbul: Çituri Biraderler Basımevi.
  • 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.
  • Ryder, Edmund C. (2010), "The Despoina of the Mongols and Her Patronage at the Church of the Theotokos ton Mougoulion", Journal of Modern Hellenism, Winter (27): 71–102

External links

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