Pammakaristos Church
Encyclopedia
Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos
Pammakaristos , in 1591 converted into a mosque
and known as Fethiye Mosque and today partly a museum, is one of the most famous Byzantine
churches in Istanbul
, Turkey. The parekklesion, besides being one of the most important examples of Constantinople
's Palaiologan
architecture, has the largest amount of Byzantine
mosaic
s in Istanbul after the Hagia Sophia
and Chora Church
.
inside the walled city
of Istanbul
. Theotokos Pammakaristos overlooks the Golden Horn
.
that the original building was erected in the 8th century.
A parekklesion (a side chapel) was added to the south side of the church in the early Palaiologan period, and dedicated to Christ
os ho Logos . The small shrine was erected by Martha Glabas in memory of her late husband, the protostrator
Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes
, a general of Andronikos II Palaiologos
, shortly after the year 1310. An elegant dedicatory inscription to Christ, written by the poet Manuel Philes
, runs along the parekklesion, both outside and inside it.
The main church was also renovated at the same time, as the study of the Templon
has shown.
Following the fall of Constantinople
, the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was first moved to the Church of the Holy Apostles
, and in 1456 to the Pammakaristos Church, which remained as the seat of the Patriarchate until 1587.
Five years later, the Ottoman
Sultan Murad III
converted the church into a mosque and renamed it in honor of his Fetih (Conquest) of Georgia
and Azerbaijan
, hence the name Fethiye Camii. To accommodate the requirements of prayer, most of the interior walls were removed in order to create a larger inner space.
The complex, which was neglected, has been restored in 1949 by the Byzantine Institute of America
and Dumbarton Oaks
, which brought it back to its pristine splendor. While the main building remains a mosque, the parekklesion has since then been a museum.
s, and a narthex
to the west. The masonry
was typical of the Comnenian period, and adopted the technique of the recessed brick. In this technique, alternate coarses of brick are mounted behind the line of the wall, and are plunged in a mortar's bed, which can still be seen in the cistern
underneath and in the church.
The transformation of the church into a mosque changed the original building greatly. The arcades connecting the main aisle
with the deambulatoria were removed and were replaced with broad archways to open up the nave. The three apses were removed too. In their place toward the east a great domed room was built, obliquely with respect to the orientation of the building.
On the other side, the parekklesion represents the most beautiful building of the late Byzantine period in Constantinople
. It has the typical cross-in-square
plan with five domes, but the proportion between vertical and horizontal dimensions is much bigger than usual (although not so big as in the contemporary Byzantine churches built in the Balkans).
Although the inner colored marble revetment largely disappeared, the shrine still contains the restored remains of a number of mosaic panels, which, while not as varied and well-preserved as those of the Chora Church, serve as another resource for understanding late Byzantine art.
A representation of the Pantocrator, surrounded by the prophets of the Old Testament
(Moses
, Jeremiah
, Zephaniah
, Micah
, Joel
, Zechariah, Obadiah
, Habakkuk
, Jonah
, Malachi
, Ezekiel
, and Isaiah
) is under the main dome. On the apse, Christ Hyperagathos is shown with Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist. The Baptism
of Christ
survives intact to the right side of the dome.
Theotokos
Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...
Pammakaristos , in 1591 converted into a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
and known as Fethiye Mosque and today partly a museum, is one of the most famous Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
churches in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Turkey. The parekklesion, besides being one of the most important examples of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
's Palaiologan
Palaiologos
Palaiologos , often latinized as Palaeologus, was a Byzantine Greek noble family, which produced the last ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. After the Fourth Crusade, members of the family fled to the neighboring Empire of Nicaea, where Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor in 1259,...
architecture, has the largest amount of Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
s in Istanbul after the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...
and Chora Church
Chora Church
The Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora is considered to be one of the most beautiful examples of a Byzantine church. The church is situated in Istanbul, in the Edirnekapı neighborhood, which lies in the western part of the municipality of Fatih...
.
Location
The building is located in the Çarşamba neighbourhood within the district of FatihFatih
Fatih is a municipality and district in Istanbul, Turkey that encompasses most of the peninsula coinciding with historic Constantinople. In 2009, the district of Eminönü, formerly a separate municipality located at the tip of the peninsula, was merged into Fatih...
inside the walled city
Walls of Constantinople
The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great...
of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. Theotokos Pammakaristos overlooks the Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
.
History
According to most scholars, the church was built between the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. Many historians and archaeologists believe that the original structure of the church can be attributed to Michael VII Ducas (1071–1078), others put its foundation in the Comnenian period. It has also been suggested by the Swiss scholar and Byzantinist Ernest MambouryErnest Mamboury
Ernest Mamboury was a Swiss scholar renowned for his works on the historic structures in Turkish cities, particularly on Byzantine art and architecture in Istanbul.Mamboury was born 1878 in Signy-Avenex, Switzerland...
that the original building was erected in the 8th century.
A parekklesion (a side chapel) was added to the south side of the church in the early Palaiologan period, and dedicated to Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
os ho Logos . The small shrine was erected by Martha Glabas in memory of her late husband, the protostrator
Protostrator
Prōtostratōr was a Byzantine court office, originating as the imperial stable master, which in the last centuries of the Empire evolved into one of the senior military offices...
Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes
Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes
Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes or Michael Tarchaneiotes Glabas was a notable Byzantine aristocrat and general.- Life :He is first mentioned in ca. 1260, when he was assigned to capture the city of Mesembria on the Black Sea coast from the deposed Bulgarian tsar Mitso Asen...
, a general of Andronikos II Palaiologos
Andronikos II Palaiologos
Andronikos II Palaiologos , Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, was Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. He was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes...
, shortly after the year 1310. An elegant dedicatory inscription to Christ, written by the poet Manuel Philes
Manuel Philes
Manuel Philes , of Ephesus, Byzantine poet.At an early age he removed to Constantinople, where he was the pupil of Georgius Pachymeres, in whose honour he composed a memorial poem. Philes appears to have travelled extensively, and his writings contain much information concerning the imperial court...
, runs along the parekklesion, both outside and inside it.
The main church was also renovated at the same time, as the study of the Templon
Templon
A templon is a feature of Byzantine churches consisting of a barrier separating the nave from the sacraments at the altar....
has shown.
Following the fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
, the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was first moved to the Church of the Holy Apostles
Church of the Holy Apostles
The Church of the Holy Apostles , also known as the Imperial Polyandreion, was a Christian church built in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, in 550. It was second only to the Church of the Holy Wisdom among the great churches of the capital...
, and in 1456 to the Pammakaristos Church, which remained as the seat of the Patriarchate until 1587.
Five years later, the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Sultan Murad III
Murad III
Murad III was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death.-Biography:...
converted the church into a mosque and renamed it in honor of his Fetih (Conquest) of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, hence the name Fethiye Camii. To accommodate the requirements of prayer, most of the interior walls were removed in order to create a larger inner space.
The complex, which was neglected, has been restored in 1949 by the Byzantine Institute of America
Byzantine Institute of America
The Byzantine Institute of America is an organization founded for the preservation of Byzantine art and architecture. Working with the Turkish government and President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, its greatest notable success is the preservation of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia starting in June 1931...
and Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks is the conventional name for the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, situated on a historic property in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The institution is administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. Its founders, Robert Woods Bliss and his wife...
, which brought it back to its pristine splendor. While the main building remains a mosque, the parekklesion has since then been a museum.
Architecture and decoration
The Comnenian building was a church with a main aisle and two deambulatoria, and had three apseApse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
s, and a narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
to the west. The masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
was typical of the Comnenian period, and adopted the technique of the recessed brick. In this technique, alternate coarses of brick are mounted behind the line of the wall, and are plunged in a mortar's bed, which can still be seen in the cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
underneath and in the church.
The transformation of the church into a mosque changed the original building greatly. The arcades connecting the main aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
with the deambulatoria were removed and were replaced with broad archways to open up the nave. The three apses were removed too. In their place toward the east a great domed room was built, obliquely with respect to the orientation of the building.
On the other side, the parekklesion represents the most beautiful building of the late Byzantine period in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. It has the typical cross-in-square
Cross-in-square
The term cross-in-square or crossed-dome denotes the dominant architectural form of middle- and late-period Byzantine churches. The first cross-in-square churches were probably built in the late 8th century, and the form has remained in use throughout the Orthodox world until the present day...
plan with five domes, but the proportion between vertical and horizontal dimensions is much bigger than usual (although not so big as in the contemporary Byzantine churches built in the Balkans).
Although the inner colored marble revetment largely disappeared, the shrine still contains the restored remains of a number of mosaic panels, which, while not as varied and well-preserved as those of the Chora Church, serve as another resource for understanding late Byzantine art.
A representation of the Pantocrator, surrounded by the prophets of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
(Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Jeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
, Zephaniah
Zephaniah
Zephaniah or Tzfanya is the name of several people in the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh. He is also called Sophonias as in the New Catholic Encyclopaedia and in Easton's [Bible] Dictionary....
, Micah
Micah (prophet)
Micah, meaning “who is like Yahweh," was a prophet who prophesied from approximately 737-690 BC in Judah and is the author of the Book of Micah. He was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos and Hosea and is considered one of the twelve minor prophets of the Tanakh . Micah was from...
, Joel
Joel (prophet)
Joel was a prophet of ancient Israel, the second of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Joel. He is mentioned by name only once in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, in the introduction to his own brief book, as the son of Pethuel...
, Zechariah, Obadiah
Obadiah
Obadiah is a Biblical theophorical name, meaning "servant of Yahweh" or "worshipper of Yahweh." It is related to "Abdeel", "servant of God", which is also cognate to the Arabic name "Abdullah". Turkish name Abdil or Abdi. The form of Obadiah's name used in the Septuagint is Obdios; in Latin it is...
, Habakkuk
Habakkuk
Habakkuk , also spelled Habacuc, was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible. The etymology of the name of Habakkuk is not clear. The name is possibly related to the Akkadian khabbaququ, the name of a fragrant plant, or the Hebrew root חבק, meaning "embrace"...
, Jonah
Jonah
Jonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
, Malachi
Malachi
Malachi, Malachias or Mal'achi was a Jewish prophet in the Hebrew Bible. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Josiah. Malachi was the writer of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Neviim section in the Jewish Tanakh...
, Ezekiel
Ezekiel
Ezekiel , "God will strengthen" , is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet...
, and Isaiah
Isaiah
Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
) is under the main dome. On the apse, Christ Hyperagathos is shown with Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist. The Baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
of Christ
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
survives intact to the right side of the dome.