Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and ArchitectureVan Millingen, Alexander
Philosophy
Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture
Van Millingen, Alexander
Architecture, Byzantine; Church architecture -- Turkey -- Istanbul; Church buildings -- Turkey -- Istanbul
One of these churches was dedicated to S. Andrew the Apostle, and
stood 'near the column,' [Greek: plêsion tou stylou];[153] the other
to S. Andrew, not otherwise identified, was near the Gate of
Saturninus, [Greek: plêsion tês portas tou Satourninou].[154] It is
difficult to decide which church is represented by the mosque. For
there were two columns on the Seventh Hill of the city: the Column of
Constantine the Great, which stood outside the city bounds, giving
name to the extra-mural district of the Exokionion now Alti Mermer; and
the Column of Arcadius now Avret Tash. Nor can the position of the
Gate of Saturninus be determined more accurately than that it was an
entrance in the portion of the Constantinian Walls which traversed the
Seventh Hill, the Xerolophos of Byzantine days. On the whole, however,
the indications favour the view that Hoja Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi
represents the church of S. Andrew near the Gate of Saturninus. A
church in that position, though outside the Constantinian
fortification, was still so near them that it could be, very
appropriately, described as near one of the city gates. Again the
Russian pilgrims[155] who visited the shrines of Constantinople in the
second quarter of the fifteenth century found two churches dedicated
to S. Andrew in this part of the city, one to S. Andrew the Strategos,
the other to S. Andrew 'mad with the love of God' ('God-intoxicated').
In proceeding northwards from the church of S. Diomed, which stood
near the Golden Gate (Yedi Koulé), the Russian visitor reached first
the sanctuary dedicated to S. Andrew the Strategos, and then the
church dedicated to S. Andrew the 'God-intoxicated,' which lay still
farther to the north. But this order in the positions of the two
churches implies that Hoja Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi represents the
church of S. Andrew the Strategos, a martyr of the fourth century,
viz. the church which the documents of the sixth century describe as
near the Gate of Saturninus, without specifying by what title its
patron saint was distinguished. This agrees, moreover, with what is
known regarding the site of the church of S. Andrew the Apostle. It
stood to the west of the cistern of Mokius,[156] the large ruined
Byzantine reservoir, now Tchoukour Bostan, to the north of Hoja
Mustapha Pasha Mesjedi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account