The Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...

Pammakaristos ( el, , "All-Blessed Mother of God"), is one of the most famous

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

churches in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey, and was the last pre- Ottoman building to house the

Ecumenical Patriarchate The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...

. Converted in 1591 into the Fethiye Mosque ( tr, Fethiye Camii, "mosque of the conquest"), it is today partly a museum housed in a side chapel or

parekklesion Parecclesion or parakklesion ( el, παρεκκλήσιον 'chapel') is a type of side chapel found in Byzantine architecture. Examples of existing parecclesions: * Chora Church * Pammakaristos Church The Pammakaristos Church, also known as ...

. One of the most important examples of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

Palaiologan The House of Palaiologos ( Palaiologoi; grc-gre, Παλαιολόγος, pl. , female version Palaiologina; grc-gre, Παλαιολογίνα), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek ...

architecture, the church contains the largest quantity of

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s in Istanbul after the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

and

Chora Church '' '' tr, Kariye Mosque'' , image = Chora Church Constantinople 2007 panorama 002.jpg , caption = Exterior rear view , map_type = Istanbul Fatih , map_size = 220px , map_caption ...

. The church-mosque is in the

Çarşamba Çarşamba is a town and district (ilçe) of Samsun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, in the center of the Çarşamba Plain. It is the second largest district of the Samsun province after Bafra. The mayor is Halit Doğan ( AKP). Ferhan ...

neighbourhood of the

Fatih Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the co ...

district inside the

walled city A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

History

Most scholars believe that the church was built between the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Many historians and archaeologists attribute the original structure to

Michael VII Ducas Michael VII Doukas or Ducas ( gr, Μιχαήλ Δούκας), nicknamed Parapinakes ( gr, Παραπινάκης, lit. "minus a quarter", with reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine e ...

(1071–1078); others put its foundation in the

Comneni Komnenos ( gr, Κομνηνός; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, )) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνην� ...

an period.Mathews (1976), p. 346 Alternatively, the Swiss scholar and Byzantinist

Ernest Mamboury Ernest Mamboury (1 April 1878 - 23 September 1953) was a Swiss scholar renowned for his works on the historic structures in Turkish cities, particularly on Byzantine art and architecture in Istanbul. Biography Mamboury was born 1878 in Signy-Ave ...

suggested that the original building belonged to the 8th century. The ''parekklesion'' (side chapel) was added to the south side of the church in the early

Palaiologan period The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from the Latin Empire, founded ...

, and dedicated to

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

os ho Logos ( el, Christ the Word). Shortly after 1310, Martha Glabas erected a small shrine in memory of her late husband, the ''

protostrator ''Prōtostratōr'' ( el, πρωτοστράτωρ) was a Byzantine court office, originating as the imperial stable master. Its proximity to the imperial person led to a highly visible role in imperial ceremonies, and served as a springboard for ...

'' Michael Doukas Glabas Tarchaneiote, a general of

Andronikos II Palaiologos , image = Andronikos II Palaiologos2.jpg , caption = Miniature from the manuscript of George Pachymeres' ''Historia'' , succession = Byzantine emperor , reign = 11 December 1282 –24 May 1328 , coronation = 8 Novembe ...

.Mathews (1976), p. 347. An elegant dedicatory inscription to Christ, written by the poet

Manuel Philes Manuel Philes (c. 1275–1345, gr, Μανουήλ Φιλής), of Ephesus, Byzantine poet. Biography At an early age, he moved to Constantinople, where he was the pupil of Georgius Pachymeres, in whose honour he composed a memorial poem. Philes ...

, runs along the inside and outside of the parekklesion. The main church was also renovated at the same time, as the study of the

Templon A templon (from Greek τέμπλον meaning "temple", plural ''templa'') is a feature of Byzantine churches consisting of a barrier separating the nave from the sanctuary near the altar. The solid templon first appeared in Christian churches aro ...

has shown. Following the

fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...

in 1453, the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was first moved from

to the

Church of the Holy Apostles The Church of the Holy Apostles ( el, , ''Agioi Apostoloi''; tr, Havariyyun Kilisesi), also known as the ''Imperial Polyándreion'' (imperial cemetery), was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman E ...

. Then in 1456 it was moved to the Theotokos Pammakaristos Church, where it remained until 1587.Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 133. Five years later, the Ottoman Sultan

Murad III Murad III ( ota, مراد ثالث, Murād-i sālis; tr, III. Murad; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Saf ...

converted the church into a mosque and renamed it in honor of his conquest (''fetih'') of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, hence the name ''Fethiye Camii''. To accommodate the requirements of prayer, most of the interior walls were removed to create a larger inner space. After years of neglect, the complex was restored in 1949 by the Byzantine Institute of America and

Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, M ...

. While the main building remains a mosque, the parekklesion has been a museum since then. In 2021 restoration work on the building began again. It was due to be completed by the end of 2022.

Architecture and decoration

The Comnenian building was a church with a main aisle and two ''deambulatoria'',A ''deambulatorium'' is an aisle which encircles the central part of a church three

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

s, and a

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

to the west. The

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

was typical of the Comnenian period, and used the ''recessed brick'' technique. In this technique, alternate courses 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 A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

underneath and in the church. The transformation of the church into a mosque greatly changed the original building. The arcades connecting the main

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

with the deambulatoria were removed and replaced with broad arches to open up the nave. The three apses were removed too. In their place towards the east a great domed room was built at an oblique angle to the orientation of the building. On the other side, the parekklesion represents the most beautiful building of the late Byzantine period in

. It has the typical

cross-in-square A cross-in-square or crossed-dome floor plan, plan was the dominant architectural form of middle- and late-period Byzantine Empire, Byzantine church architecture, churches. It featured a square centre with an internal structure shaped like a cross ...

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

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 In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator ( grc-gre, Χριστὸς Παντοκράτωρ) is a specific depiction of Christ. ''Pantocrator'' or ''Pantokrator'', literally ''ruler of all'', but usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-po ...

, surrounded by the prophets of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

(

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...

Zephaniah Zephaniah (, ) is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Tanakh, the most prominent one being the prophet who prophesied in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (640–609 BCE) and is attributed a book bearing his name among the ...

Micah Micah (; ) is a given name. Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and means "Who is like God?" The name is sometimes found with Theophoric name, theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in ''Jah, Yah'' and in ''Y ...

Joel Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" and may refer to: * Joel (given name), origin of the name including a list of people with the first name. * Joel (surname), a surname * Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazili ...

, Zechariah,

Obadiah Obadiah (; he, עֹבַדְיָה – ''ʿŌḇaḏyā'' or – ''ʿŌḇaḏyāhū''; "servant of Yah", or "Slave of Yah HVH) is a biblical prophet. The authorship of the Book of Obadiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet ...

Habakkuk Habakkuk, who was active around 612 BC, was a prophet whose oracles and prayer are recorded in the Book of Habakkuk, the eighth of the collected twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Almost al ...

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin: ''Ionas'' son of Amittai, is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, from Gath-hepher of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th cent ...

Malachi Malachi (; ) is the traditional author of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Nevi'im (Prophets) section of the Tanakh. According to the 1897 ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'', it is possible that Malachi is not a proper name, as it simply mean ...

Ezekiel Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknow ...

, and

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

) fills the main dome. In the apse, Christ Hyperagathos is shown with the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and St. John the Baptist. A

Baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

survives intact to the right side of the dome. File:Fethiye Museum 9625.jpg, Fethiye Museum exterior File:Fethiye Museum march 2459.jpg, Fethiye Museum exterior File:Fethiye Museum 2462.jpg, Fethiye Museum Exterior File:Fethiye Museum 9620.jpg, Fethiye Museum domes File:Fethiye Museum 9610.jpg, Fethiye Museum mosaic in a dome File:Fethiye Museum 9568.jpg, Fethiye Museum mosaic with Saint Antony, the desert Father File:Fethiye Museum 9593.jpg, Fethiye Museum mosaic of Saint Antony, the desert Father File:Fethiye Museum 9607.jpg, Fethiye Museum mosaic Christ File:Fethiye Museum 9567.jpg, Fethiye Museum mosaic Saint Gregory of Great Armenia File:Fethiye Museum 9587.jpg, Fethiye Museum mosaic File:Fethiye Museum 9598.jpg, Fethiye Museum capital In the building with the Fethiye Museum (with an entrance in the street passing the garden where the entrance to the museum is) a part is still a mosque. Here are some pictures of its interior File:Fethiye Mosque 2468.jpg, Fethiye Mosque interior File:Fethiye Mosque 2469.jpg, Fethiye Mosque interior File:Fethiye Mosque 2474.jpg, Fethiye Mosque interior File:Fethiye Mosque 2466.jpg, Fethiye Mosque interior File:Fethiye Mosque 2476.jpg, Fethiye Mosque interior File:Fethiye Mosque 2473.jpg, Fethiye Mosque interior

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

Official website

130 pictures of the church

Some more pictures of the mosque
{{Authority control 14th-century churches Byzantine church buildings in Istanbul Church buildings with domes Museums in Istanbul Byzantine art Fatih Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Byzantine museums in Turkey

History

Architecture and decoration

See also

Notes

References

External links