Misplaced Pages

#32967

34-567: It is less than 1 km to the southeast of Eski Imaret Mosque , another Byzantine church that was turned into a mosque. East of the complex is an Ottoman Konak which has been restored and opened as a restaurant and tea garden called Zeyrekhane. Between 1118 and 1124 the Byzantine Empress Irene of Hungary built a monastery on this site dedicated to Christ Pantokrator (Christ the Omnipotent). The monastery consisted of

68-406: A cella (from Latin  'small chamber') or naos (from Ancient Greek ναός (nāós)  'temple') is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple . Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or monk's cell , and since the 17th century, of a biological cell in plants or animals. In ancient Greek and Roman temples ,

102-489: A church (which became the katholikon , or main church, of the monastery) also dedicated to Christ Pantokrator, a library and a hospital. After the death of his wife, shortly after 1134, Emperor John II Komnenos built another church to the north of the first one which was dedicated to the Theotokos Eleousa (Merciful Mother of God). This church was open to the population and served by a lay clergy. By 1136 at

136-475: A cloisonné technique, with human and animal figures represented, is currently covered by a modern carpet. Fragments of coloured glass found here suggest that the windows were once filled with stained glass with figures of saints. Mosaics representing the apostles and the life of Christ were still visible - although defaced - in the 18th century. The imperial chapel is covered by barrel vaults and surmounted by two domes. The north church has only one dome, and

170-739: A complete overview of the Golden Horn , and instead suggested the site currently occupied by the Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque as an alternative placing for the Pantepoptes Monastery. Austay-Effenberger and Effenberger agreed with Mango, and argued that it might actually have been the Church of St. Constantine, founded by the Empress Theophano in the early 10th century, highlighting its similarities to

204-645: A single outer peristyle . According to Vitruvius , the Etruscan type of temples (as, for example, at Portonaccio , near Veio ) had three cellae , side by side, conjoined by a double row of columns on the façade . This is an entirely new setup with respect to the other types of constructions found in Etruria and the Tyrrhenian side of Italy, which have one cell with or without columns, as seen in Greece and

238-595: Is a former Byzantine church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans . The church has traditionally been identified as belonging to the Monastery of Christ Pantepoptes ( Greek : Μονή του Χριστού Παντεπόπτη ), meaning "Christ the all-seeing". It is the only documented 11th-century church in Istanbul which survives intact, and represents a key monument of middle Byzantine architecture . Despite that, it remains among

272-683: Is notable for the frieze carved with dog's tooth and triangle motifs running along the eaves . Near the mosque is the Şeyh Süleyman Mescidi , a small Byzantine building that probably belonged to the Pantokrator Monastery. It may have housed a library although that is not certain. In its entirely, this monastic complex is the best example of Middle Byzantine architecture to survive in Istanbul Eski Imaret Mosque The Eski Imaret Mosque ( Turkish : Eski Imaret Camii )

306-418: Is roughly three times greater than that of the brick layers. The brick tiles on the roof are unique among the churches and mosques of Istanbul, which are otherwise covered with lead . The plan belongs to the cross-in-square (or quincunx ) type with a central dome and four vaulted crossarms, a sanctuary to the east and an esonarthex and an exonarthex to the west. This appears to be an addition of

340-466: Is the largest. To the east it has an esonarthex , which was eventually extended right up to the imperial chapel. The church is surmounted by two domes, one over the naos and the other over the matroneum (a separate upper gallery for women) of the narthex . Once very rich, the decoration of the church has disappeared almost completely, bar some marble fragments in the presbyterium . The historical opus sectile floor made from coloured marble worked in

374-517: The Palaiologan period , replacng an older portico , and is divided into three bays. The lateral ones are surmounted by cross vaults , the central one by a dome. A unique feature of this building is the U-shaped gallery which runs over the narthex and the two western bays of the quincunx. The gallery has windows opening towards both the naos and the crossarm. It is possible that the gallery

SECTION 10

#1732773173033

408-574: The cella in the center of the plan, such as the Parthenon and the Temple of Apollo at Paestum . The Romans favoured pseudoperipteral buildings with a portico offsetting the cella to the rear. The pseudoperipteral plan uses engaged columns embedded along the side and rear walls of the cella . The Temple of Venus and Roma built by Hadrian in Rome had two cellae arranged back-to-back enclosed by

442-439: The cella was a room at the center of the building, usually containing a cult image or statue representing the particular deity venerated in the temple. In addition, the cella might contain a table to receive supplementary votive offerings , such as votive statues of associated deities, precious and semi-precious stones, helmets , spear and arrow heads, swords , and war trophies . No gatherings or sacrifices took place in

476-403: The cella , as the altar for sacrifices was always located outside the building along the axis and temporary altars for other deities were built next to it. The accumulated offerings made Greek and Roman temples virtual treasuries , and many of them were indeed used as treasuries during antiquity . The cella was typically a simple, windowless, rectangular room with a door or open entrance at

510-597: The siege of Constantinople , Emperor Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos established his headquarters near the monastery. From this vantage point he could watch the Venetian fleet under the command of Doge Enrico Dandolo deploying between the monastery of the Euergetes and the church of St. Mary of the Blachernae before attacking the city. After the successful attack he took flight abandoning his purple tent on

544-616: The Orient. In the Hellenistic culture of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in ancient Egypt, the cella referred to that which is hidden and unknown inside the inner sanctum of an Egyptian temple , existing in complete darkness, meant to symbolize the state of the universe before the act of creation. The cella , also called the naos , holds many box-like shrines. The Greek word " naos " has been extended by archaeologists to describe

578-566: The Pantokrator to become the first Patriarch of Constantinople after the Muslim conquest of the city in 1453. Shortly after the Fall of Constantinople the main church was converted into a mosque, while the monastery served for a while as a medrese . The Ottomans named it after Molla Zeyrek, a scholar who taught there. However, because of its importance to Byzantine history, Zeyrek was one of

612-458: The central room of the pyramids. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom , naos construction went from being subterranean to being built directly into the pyramid, above ground. The naos was surrounded by many different paths and rooms, many used to confuse and divert thieves and grave robbers. In early Christian and Byzantine architecture , the cella or naos is an area at the center of

646-399: The church became a mosque, while the monastic buildings were used as a zaviye , medrese and imaret for the nearby Fatih Mosque , which was then under construction. The Turkish name for the mosque ("Old Soup Kitchen Mosque") recall this. The complex has been ravaged by fire several times, and the last traces of the monastery disappeared about a century ago. Until 1970 the building

680-555: The contemporaneous Lips Monastery . Some time before 1087, Anna Dalassena , mother of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus , built a convent dedicated to Christos Pantepoptes on the summit of the fourth of Constantinople 's seven hills where she retired at the end of her life, following Imperial custom. The convent included a church, also dedicated to the Pantepoptes. On April 12, 1204, during

714-581: The early 21st century the edifice had become very rundown and partly ruinous as a result of which it was added to the UNESCO watchlist of endangered monuments. Extensive and sometimes controversial restoration has now been completed and the mosque reopened for prayer. The masonry has been partly built using the recessed brick technique typical of the Byzantine architecture of the middle period. In this technique, alternate courses of bricks are mounted behind

SECTION 20

#1732773173033

748-512: The east, like the sanctuary, with an apse . These chapels are the prothesis and diaconicon . The Ottomans resurfaced the apses and added a minaret , since lost. The dome , which during the Ottoman period was given a helmet-like shape, recovered its original scalloped roofline in the restoration of 1970. This is typical of the churches of the Macedonian period . The tent-like roofing of

782-469: The exterior difficult. Its masonry consists of brick and stone, and uses the recessed brick technique; it is the oldest extant building of Constantinople in which this technique - which is typical of the Middle Byzantine architecture - can be observed, . In this technique, alternate courses of bricks are mounted behind the line of the wall in a mortar bed. The thickness of the mortar layers

816-518: The few buildings of Constantinople whose old denomination was never forgotten and was written about by foreign visitors including the French traveller Pierre Gilles who described it in his book about Constantinople, written in the sixteenth century. After the completion of the medreses in the Fatih complex in 1471, Muslim students abandoned Zeyrek, and the rooms once occupied by the school vanished. By

850-416: The front behind a colonnaded portico facade. In larger temples, the cella was typically divided by two colonnades into a central nave flanked by two aisles . A cella may also contain an adyton , an inner area restricted to access by the priests—in religions that had a consecrated priesthood—or by the temple guard. With very few exceptions, Greek buildings were of a peripteral design that placed

884-579: The gallery has also been replaced with tiles that follow the curves of the vaulting. The exterior has occasional decorative motifs, like sunbursts , meanders , basket-wave patterns and cloisonnés : the latter motif is typical of the Greek architecture of this period but unknown elsewhere in Constantinople. Of the original interior, nothing remains but some marble mouldings , cornices , and doorframes. Cella In Classical architecture ,

918-573: The latest a southern courtyard and an exonarthex were added to the complex, and the two shrines were connected with a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael , which became the imperial mausoleum ( heroon ) of the Komnenos and Palaiologos dynasties. Besides many other Byzantine dignitaries, the Emperor John II and his wife Eirene, and Empress Bertha of Sulzbach (also known as Eirene), the wife of Manuel I Komnenos , were buried here. During

952-705: The least studied buildings in the city. The building lies in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih , in the neighbourhood of Zeyrek , one of the poorest areas inside the old walled city. It is less than one kilometre northwest of the even more impressive Zeyrek Mosque . It was the Patriarch Constantius I (1830–1834) who identified the Eski Imaret Mosque as the old Pantepoptes church. Although this identification has been generally accepted, Cyril Mango argued that its location didn't allow

986-437: The line of the wall in a mortar bed. The thickness of the mortar layers is about three times greater than that of the brick layers. The south and the north church are both cross-shaped with central domes and polygonal apses with seven sides rather than the five that had been typical in the Byzantine architecture of the previous century. The apses also feature triple lancet windows flanked by niches . The southern church

1020-624: The period of Latin domination after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the complex fell into the hands of the Venetian clergy, and an icon of the Theotokos Hodegetria was housed here. The monastery was also used as an imperial palace by the last Latin Emperor , Baldwin . After the Palaiologan restoration the monastery was once again used by Orthodox monks. The most famous of them was Gennadius II Scholarius , who left

1054-557: The spot, thus allowing Baldwin of Flanders to spend his victory night inside it. The complex was sacked by the Crusaders , and afterwards it was assigned to Benedictine monks from San Giorgio Maggiore in Rome . During the Latin occupation of Constantinople]] (1204–1261) the building became a Roman Catholic church. Immediately after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453,

Zeyrek Mosque - Misplaced Pages Continue

1088-478: Was built for the private use of the Empress-Mother. As in many of the surviving Byzantine churches of Istanbul, the four columns which supported the crossing were replaced by piers, and the colonnades at either ends of the crossarms were filled in. The piers divide the nave into three aisles . The side aisles lead into small clover-leaf-shaped chapels to the east, connected to the sanctuary and ended to

1122-429: Was rebuilt in the 1970 restoration. In 2015, restoration works began on the Eski Imaret Mosque with an expected opening date of 2019, however this was later halted for unknown reason. As of 2024, the Eski Imaret Mosque is still under restoration. The building lies on a slope which overlooks the Golden Horn , and rests on a platform which is the ceiling of a cistern . It is hemmed in all sides, making inspection of

1156-468: Was used as a Koran school , which rendered it largely inaccessible for architectural study. In 1970, the mosque was partially closed off and restored by the Turkish architect Fikret Çuhadaroğlu. It has been restored twice: once in the 1970s by Architect Fikret Çuhadaroglu; and again during an unauthorized restoration in the 1990s. Its undulating roofline, obscured by a single flat roof in Ottoman times,

#32967