Arslan Hane ( Turkish for ''Lion's shelter''; also ''Arslanhane'') was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

church converted into a secular building by the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. The Church was dedicated to Christ of the Chalke (), Janin (1953), p. 544. after the image of the Savior ("Christ Chalkites") framed above the main entrance of the nearby

Chalke Gate The Chalke Gate (), was the main ceremonial entrance ( vestibule) to the Great Palace of Constantinople in the Byzantine period. The name, which means "the Bronze Gate", was given to it either because of the bronze portals or from the gilded bro ...

. This building, whose name stems possibly from its doors or tiles made with bronze (in Greek ''chálkeos''), was the monumental vestibule of the Great Palace of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. The desecrated church, already heavily damaged by fire, was demolished in 1804.Müller-Wiener (1976), p. 81

Location

The structure was located in Istanbul, in the district of

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

, in the neighborhood of ''Sultanahmet'', about south of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

, not far from the Column of Justinian and to the left of the Chalke Gate of the Great Palace, both disappeared.

History

Byzantine Age

In the tenth century, Emperor Romanos Lekapenos erected near the Chalke a chapel dedicated to Christ Chalkites, the name of the image of Jesus that adorned the main entrance of the Chalke. This image - being one of the major religious symbols of the city - had great importance during the Iconoclastic period. The shrine was so small that it could contain no more than fifteen people. In 971, Emperor

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general who married into the influential Skleros family, he strengthened and expanded the Byzantine Empire to inclu ...

enlarged the chapel, building a two-storey church to celebrate his victory against the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, and endowed it with a 50-member clergy. The new building, which was erected in part using material from the nearby Palace Baths "tou oikonomíou", which was already in ruins, was lavishly decorated. John I was buried in the church's crypt in 976. In 1183, Andronikos Komnenos was proclaimed Emperor here, in association with the young Emperor Alexios II Komnenos, who was put to death immediately afterward. According to a Russian pilgrim, the church was still in use in the second quarter of the fifteenth century.

Ottoman Age

After the

Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...

to the Ottomans in 1453, the hostel of the combat engineers () was placed near the church, and the church was abandoned. Afterwards, like the nearby Church of St. John at ''Dihippion'', the ground floor of the building was used to house the wild animals (lions - whence its Turkish name, ''Arslan hane'' - tigers, elephants, etc.) intended for the court of the Sultan in the nearby

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

.Ronchey (2010), p. 299 At the same time, the upper floor had its windows walled and was used to lodge the

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

painters and miniaturists active in the Sultan's Palace (). In 1741 a fire in the Hagia Sophia neighborhood damaged the building, as well as the nearby Haseki Hürrem Sultan Bath.Mamboury (1953) p.329Müller-Wiener (1976), p. 329 In 1802 the upper floor caught fire, and in 1804 the building was demolished. There were numerous fires in the following years in the new edifices built on the site, until in 1846-48 the

Swiss Italian The Italian language in Italian Switzerland or Swiss Italian (, ) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. While this variety is mainly spoken in the canton of Ticino and in the southern part ...

architect Gaspare Fossati built the main seat of the new

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

on the same site.

Description

About the first chapel it is only known that two marble columns used for its construction were brought from

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

.Janin (1964) p. 111 A representation of the city belonging to the 1493

Nuremberg Chronicle The ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is an illustrated encyclopedia consisting of world historical accounts, as well as accounts told through biblical paraphrase. Subjects include human history in relation to the Bible, illustrated mythological creatures, ...

, another of 1532 painted by Nasûh al Matrakçî,Müller-Wiener (1976), p. 71 and an engraving in a geography book published in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1804 are the only three extant images of the church, although in the latter the building is represented as already in ruins. The edifice appears to be made of ashlar and brick, with a central plan and two storeys surmounted by a dome. The upper storey was flanked by two half domes and was preceded by a terrace. Both storeys were pierced by windows. Internally the church was adorned with precious vases and

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

s (such as the famous icon of Christ coming from Beirut Alice Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan : « The History of Leo the Deacon » - Washington, 2005, p.209), and lavishly decorated with paintings and mosaics. The remains of these, as well as of inscriptions in Greek, were still visible in the interior until the eighteenth century. John Tzimiskes endowed the church with several

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

, among them the alleged sandals of Jesus and the hair of

St. John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, and had his tomb, made of gold and enamel, built in the crypt.

References

Notes

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arslan Hane, Istanbul 971 10th-century churches Fatih Buildings and structures demolished in 1804