Little Hagia Sophia

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Little Hagia Sophia, view from the northeast

The Little Hagia Sophia (from the Greek Ἅγια Σοφία , “holy wisdom”, Turkish Küçük Aya Sofya Camii , hence also Μικρή Αγία Σοφία in Greek ) is the former Orthodox Sergios and Bakchos Church (Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Νόκα των Αγίων Σεργίου και Βάκχου Ekklēsía or Naós tōn Hagíōn Sergíou kai Bákchou ) in Istanbul and a mosque since 1504 . The Byzantine domed structure was built in the 6th century AD and was the structural model for the “great” Hagia Sophia , the main church of the Byzantine Empire . The building is one of the most important early Byzantine structures in Istanbul. As a church, it was consecrated to Saints Sergios and Bakchos and formed part of the Sergios and Bakchos Monastery (Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Μονή των Αγίων Σεργίου και Βάκχου).

location

The “Little Hagia Sophia” is located in the Eminönü district of Istanbul, not far from the Sea of Marmara, a few meters west of the Bukoleon Palace and south of the Hippodrome . The mosque is separated from the Bukolean Palace by a railway line that runs directly past its south wall and the four-lane Kennedy Caddesi.

Interior view of the dome

history

The building was built between 527 and 536 (a few years before Hagia Sophia), during the reign of Justinian I , as the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus. The square chosen for the new church was vacant land between the Bukolean Palace (also Hormisdas Palace, the palace of Justinian before his accession to the throne) and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul . The two churches shared the narthex , atrium and propylon . The new church became the center of the complex, to this day the north wall of one of the two other buildings is on its south side. The Sergios and Bakchos Church was one of the most important religious buildings in Constantinople . During the Byzantine iconoclasm , the Sergios and Bakchos Monastery was one of the centers of the iconoclasts under its abbot Johannes Grammatikos . Because of its strong resemblance to Hagia Sophia, it is believed that the building was designed by the same architects Anthemios von Tralleis and Isidore von Milet , and that the construction was a kind of “dress rehearsal” for the construction of Hagia Sophia, the largest church in the Byzantine Empire was.

The time period for the construction is narrowed down with different hypotheses. 527 was the year Theodora I and her husband Justinian I moved from the Bukolean Palace to the Grand Palace after ascending to the throne . Jonathan Bardill refers to the church historian John of Ephesus (around 507 - around 588), according to which Theodora offered the Bukolean palace to a group of 500 Monophysite monks as accommodation and for protection from persecution after her departure . The monks seem to have set up like a monastery and used the main hall as a martyrion . When the main hall collapsed one day, the ruling couple decided to build a new domed hall for the Monophysites. This new building was probably the Sergios and Bakchos Church and took place between 530 and 536, because at that time Chalcedonians and Monophysites were negotiating an agreement in the religious dispute. Cross-shaped monograms of Theodora in the church suggest that it will be completed by 533 at the latest. The dedication to Sergius and Backhos is a reference to the efforts of the rulers to reconcile themselves faithfully with the Monophysites from the Syrian area, because the two saints were particularly venerated there.

It was preserved as a church from the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 until the reign of Bayezid II . In 1504 it was converted into a mosque by Hüseyin Aga, the head of the keepers of Bab-i-saadet ("Gate of Joy") in Topkapı Palace . At that time, the portico and a madrasa were added to the building, while the mosaics that adorned the church were destroyed.

Grand Vizier Nişancı Hacı Ahmed Pascha built a Şadırvan (mosque fountain ) and a primary school in 1740 ; the fountain was removed again in 1938. Damage caused by the earthquakes of 1648 and 1763 was repaired under the rule of Sultan Mahmud II in 1831. Structural remnants of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, which may still be there, were removed in the 1860s when a railway line was built that runs directly south of the mosque.

The apse of the former church with the mihrab . The minbar can be seen in the foreground .

The building was, on account of the severe damage caused by humidity and earthquakes in 2002 list of the 100 most endangered monuments of the World Monuments Fund set, but could 2004 be removed from the list. After extensive restoration work from 2002 to September 2006, the mosque was opened to the public again.

description

The masonry work on the building was carried out using the technique customary in Constantinople at the time, using bricks laid in layers of mortar that were almost as thick as the brick layers. The walls were reinforced with chains made from small blocks of stone. The building, whose construction plan was deliberately repeated in San Vitale in Ravenna , has the shape of an octagon, which was inserted into an irregular rectangle approximating to a square with inner corner niches. It is covered by a 20 m high umbrella dome that stands on eight pillars. The narthex is on the west side opposite an opposing choir.

Inside the building there are two colonnaded - arcade - storeys running along the north, west and south sides, with an inscription in twelve Greek hexameters dedicated to Emperor Justinian, his wife Theodora and Saint Sergius , patron saint of soldiers of the dedicated to the Roman army. The lower floor has 16 pillars, the upper 18 pillars. Many of the capitals still bear the monograms of Justinian and Theodora. In front of the building there is a portico and forecourt that were added during the Ottoman period, as well as a small garden, a fountain for the ablutions and some small shops. To the north of the building there is a small Muslim cemetery and the former baptistery .

idealized plan of the building

literature

  • Wolfgang Müller-Wiener : Pictorial lexicon on the topography of Istanbul: Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul up to the beginning of the 17th century. Tübingen 1977, ISBN 3-8030-1022-5 , pp. 177-183.
  • Helge Svenshon, RHW Stichel: New observations on the former Church of Saints Sergios and Bakchos (Küçük Ayasofya Camisi) in Istanbul. Istanbul Communications, 2000, 389–409. ISSN  0341-9142
  • Helge Svenshon: New considerations for the floor plan of the Sergios and Bakchos Church in Istanbul. In: Architecura 43/2013, pp. 113-128, ISSN  0044-863X

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Müller-Wiener: Pictorial dictionary on the topography of Istanbul . P. 178.
  2. ↑ Jonathan Bardill: The Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople and the Monophysite Refugees. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 54, 2000, pp. 1-11, here pp. 9f

Web links

Commons : Little Hagia Sophia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 0 ′ 10 ″  N , 28 ° 58 ′ 19 ″  E