Gul mosque

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View of the mosque from the Ataturk Bridge

The Gül Mosque ( Turkish Gül Camii , German Rose Mosque) is a former Byzantine church in Istanbul , which was converted into a mosque during the Ottoman period.

location

The building is located in the Aykapı district in the Fatih district on Vakıf Mektebi Sokak . Opposite is the Molla Hüsrev Camii . The church was built at the end of the valley that separates the fourth and fifth hills of Constantinople. From here you can see the Golden Horn .

Attribution

Drawing of the mosque from 1877 by AG Paspates

The building is one of the most important religious Byzantine structures in Constantinople. The attribution, which has long been considered certain, and the date of construction have been discussed among scientists for several years. For a long time the church as a church of the nunnery St. Theodosia ( Greek Μονή τής Άγιας Θεοδοσίας εν τοις Δεξιοκράτους , Mone tis Hagias Theodosias en tois Dexiokratous ) or as part of the monastery Christos Euergetes ( Greek Μονή του Χριστού του Ευεργέτου , Mone tou Christou tou Euergetou ).

Since Stephan Gerlach's records in the 15th century, the building has been considered the church of the Hagia Theodosia en tois Dexiokratous monastery . At the beginning of the 20th century, Jules Pargoire identified the church as part of the Hagia Euphēmia en tō Petriō monastery , which had been built during the tenure of Basil I (867-886). The German archaeologist Hartmut Schäfer examined the basement of the church in the 1960s and estimated the construction date to be between the end of the 11th and the first half of the 12th century. The building was built for him in the Komnenen period and was part of the Christos Euergetēs monastery . He ruled out the possibility that the Gül Mosque was the place where the body of St. Theodosia of Constantinople was brought to the end of the Byzantine iconoclasm , but conceded that the building may have been dedicated to Hagia Theodosia at a later date. In recent research, the mosque is actually attributed to Christos Euergetēs Monastery .

history

Byzantine era

View of the interior of the mosque

At the beginning of the picture dispute, the Byzantine emperor Leo III. have given the order to remove an icon of Christ from the main gate of the Grand Palace . The official Spatharios was to carry out the order, but a group of women watched the man and the nun Theodosia stepped in and threw him off the ladder. The officer died, Theodosia was arrested and executed. It has not yet been possible to clarify whether the tradition is true.

At the end of the iconoclasm, Theodosia was venerated as a martyr and saint. Her body is said to have been exhumed and brought to the church of Hagia Euphemia en tō Petriō for worship . It was in the Dexiokratiana district , which was named after the owner of the houses, Dexiocrates. The church and the monastery of the same name were built by Emperor Basileos I at the end of the 9th century AD. The hl. Euphemia was buried near the Christos Euergetēs monastery , the date of which is unknown. It is only certain that it was renewed between 1104 and 1108 by the Protosebastos Johannes Komnenos, son of Andronikos I and brother of the co-emperor Johannes Komnenos on a substructure from the early eleventh century. The Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates described its location in 1204. The records of a Russian who visited Constantinople in 1200 tell of a women's monastery in Petrion, in which the relics of St. Theodosia were kept in a silver coffin. In addition, several synaxaries report from Theodosia of Constantinople and the Hagia Euphemia or a monastery.

On April 12, 1204, during the fourth crusade, the Venetian fleet gathered in the Golden Horn in front of the monastery of Euergetes. During the Latin Empire , the navy had its anchorage in front of the monastery and the port was moved here by Michael VIII after the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire. Many relics of the monastery were looted by the Crusaders and are now in churches across Europe.

The veneration of St. Theodosia grew more and more and therefore the church was named after her in the 11th century. Since the feast day of St. Theodosia of Tire is on May 29th, this day is also the commemoration day of St. Theodosia of Constantinople. The new name of the church is first mentioned in 1301. After the 11th century, the church of Hagia Euphemia no longer appeared.

St. Theodosia became one of the most beloved saints of ancient Constantinople and invoked especially by frail people. Notoriety rose in 1306 after a deaf mute recovered. The church was mentioned again and again in the records of Russian pilgrims who visited the city in the 14th and early 15th centuries, but was occasionally confused with the nearby church of Christ Euergetēs . Twice a week there were processions through the surrounding streets. On this occasion, the relics of the church were carried through the streets. It was followed by large numbers of people with ailments who prayed for their recovery.

Southwest gallery with wooden sultan's box

The church was last mentioned on May 28, 1453. This day was not only the day before the commemoration of St. Theodosia, but also the day before the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Emperor Constantine XI. and the Patriarch of Constantinople came to pray in the church, which was adorned with garlands of roses because of the upcoming festivities. While the emperor went into the decisive battle, many people stayed in the church and prayed for the city to be saved. The next morning, the Ottoman forces entered Constantinople and reached the building adorned with roses. This is said to have been the reason why the conquerors later called the mosque the Rose Mosque. The relics were disposed of and the corpse of the saint was thrown for the dogs to eat.

Ottoman time

After the Ottoman conquest, the basement of the building was used as a naval shipyard. It is not known whether the building fell into disrepair due to a fire, an earthquake, or the conquest of the city. The Sheikh al-Islam Molla Hüsrev Mehmet Effendi founded a religious foundation near the building and had a small mosque and a hammam built.

In 1490, the destroyed church was rebuilt in just six months and rededicated as a mosque. In 1509 the dome was probably destroyed in an earthquake and replaced by a wooden roof, which was drawn in this form by Melchior Lorichs in 1557. It was probably restored during the reign of Selim II between 1566 and 1574. A minaret was also built by Hassam Pasha, a supplier to the Ottoman Navy. Between 1573 and 1578 the German clergyman Stephan Gerlach visited the mosque and identified it as the Theodosia Church. In this century Gül Baba also preached in the mosque, who was also buried here. It is possible that the mosque was named after him too.

In the 17th century, the structure was damaged several times by earthquakes and restored by Sultan Murad IV . The dome with the pendentives was renewed, almost the entire west side, the yokes in the south-west and north-west and the minaret.

The building was spared in the major fire in the city in 1782 and restored by Mahmud II at the beginning of the 19th century . The sultan also had a wooden sultan's throne installed.

architecture

Exterior

View of the apses to the southwest

The building rests on a basement with high vaults, which was also used for secular purposes in Byzantine times. The masonry of the basement was made of bricks using a special technique that was typical of the middle epoch of Byzantine architecture . This technique involves laying bricks in a thick bed of mortar. The mortar layer is up to three times thicker than the brick layer.

The cross-domed church is oriented from northwest to southeast. It is 26 meters long and 20 meters wide and is surmounted by five domes, one above the central nave and four smaller ones on the corners of the building. The central dome with the low, windowless drum is of Ottoman origin, as are the four arches that support the dome.

The original dome, similar to that of the Kalenderhane Mosque , was supported by a narrow drum with windows. On the south-eastern facade sits a central seven-sided apse, flanked by two three-sided apses, which are structured with overlapping niches. The central apse is probably from a late Byzantine era, as it lacks the top layer of the blind niches that decorate the ornamental masonry and the side apses. A cornice runs over the niches.

The style of the side apses is strongly reminiscent of that of the Pantocrator Church and is another reason for the later dating of the building.

Interior

Ground floor plan (1912)

The interior of the mosque was plastered and painted in the 18th century. You enter the church via a wooden porch that leads to a low narthex with a barrel vault . In front of there a three-arched arcade leads to a narrow nave, which is flanked by galleries that lead to the cross arms. The galleries sit on a three-arched arcade with square pillars. The nave ends in the central apse, which is flanked by two smaller ones. The south-east orientation of the apse allowed the installation of a mihrab .

Each gallery ends in a narrow chapel over the Prothesis and Diakonikon . Both chapels are surmounted by hemispherical domes that lie directly above the pendentives . Light penetrates through the five rows of windows, three of which belong to the galleries. some windows were not broken until the Ottoman period.

There are small chambers in the two eastern domed pillars. The grave of the Ottoman clergyman Gül Baba is believed to be in the southern chamber. An Ottoman inscription above the entrance reads: Tomb of the Apostle , Disciple of Jesus. Peace be upon him , who testifies to the religious syncretism of the 16th century in Istanbul. The chamber could originally be the tomb of St. Theodosia. The tradition that emerged in the 19th century that the grave of the last Byzantine emperor was supposed to be hidden in one of the pillars, however, has no basis.

With the Eski İmaret Mosque and the Vefa Kilise Mosque , the Gül Mosque is one of the most important cross-domed churches in Istanbul.

literature

  • Alexander van Millingen: Byzantine Churches of Constantinople . MacMillan & Co, London 1912
  • Raymond Janin: La Géographie Ecclésiastique de l'Empire Byzantin . (Part 1: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique , Volume 3: Les Églises et les Monastères ). Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines, Paris 1953
  • Hartmut Schäfer : The Gül Camii in Istanbul . Wasmuth, Tübingen 1973, ISBN 978-3-8030-1706-2 (also dissertation at the University of Göttingen)
  • Wolfgang Müller-Wiener : Image lexicon on the topography of Istanbul: Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul up to the beginning of the 17th century . Wasmuth, Tübingen 1977, ISBN 978-3-8030-1022-3
  • Richard Krautheimer : Architettura paleocristiana e bizantina . Einaudi, Turin 1986, ISBN 88-06-59261-0
  • Leslie Brubaker, John Haldon: Byzantium in the Iconoclast era (approx. 680-850) . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-43093-7

Web links

Commons : Gül Mosque  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Gül Baba is not identical with the Ottoman poet Gül Baba , cf. Schäfer (1973), p. 30

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Janin (1953), p. 135
  2. ↑ Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 140.
  3. ↑ a b c d Schäfer (1973), p. 84
  4. ↑ Janin (1953), p. 151
  5. ↑ Schäfer (1973), p. 83
  6. ↑ Schäfer (1973), p. 89
  7. ↑ a b c Stèphane Yerasimos: Constantinople. Istanbul's historical heritage . Könemann, Cologne 2000, p. 91
  8. ↑ Schäfer (1973), p. 82
  9. ↑ a b c d Sofia Kotzabassi: The hagiographic dossier of St. Theodosia of Constantinople . (= Volume 21, Byzantine Archive), De Gruyter, 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021986-9 , p. 2 ff.
  10. ↑ a b Janin (1953), p. 151
  11. ↑ Janin, p. 151
  12. ↑ Schäfer (1973), p. 84
  13. ↑ Van Millingen (1912), p. 169
  14. ↑ Van Millingen (1912), p. 169
  15. ↑ Schäfer (1973), p. 86
  16. ↑ a b c Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 142
  17. ↑ Semavi Eyice: Gül Camii . In: İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi (ed.): Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi . tape 14 , p. 223-225 .
  18. ^ Van Millingen (1912), p. 143
  19. ↑ a b c Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 143
  20. ↑ Krautheimer (1986), p. 400
  21. ↑ a b c Van Millingen (1912), p. 172
  22. ↑ Schäfer (1973), p. 86
  23. ↑ Van Millingen (1912), p. 170.
  24. ↑ Schäfer (1973), pp. 67-69

Coordinates: 41 ° 1 '36 "  N , 28 ° 57' 23.4"  E