RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS
Small St.Sofia Mosque - Ss. Sergius and Bacchus Church
Small St. Sofia Mosque is located between Cankurtaran and Kadırga
quarters in Eminönü District, 20 km away from the southern seaside of
Mediterranean ramparts. Although it is stated in some sources that there
was a pavilion of Big Palace, which is known as Hormidas Palace, and a
basically planned church established for Apostle Petrous and Pavlos near
Small St. Sofia Mosque, there is no proof which determines their exact
locations.
Small St. Sofia Mosque or St. Sergius and Bacchus church with its former
name, which is the useable oldest structure of İstanbul today, was
constructed between the years 527-536. According to the legends stated
in the sources about the construction of the building (Millingen 1912),
at the 1st Anastasyus Period, 1st Justiniaunus and his uncle 1st
Justinos were condemned to death due to an allegation that they had a
rebellion against the Emperor Anastasyus. One night before the execution,
the Emperor Anastasyus sees the saints St. Sergius and Bacchus in his
dream and the saints testifies in favour of 1st Justiniaunus and 1st
Justinos. The emperor, who is affected by this dream, forgives them.
When 1st Justiniaunus becomes emperor, he establishes St. Sergius and
Bacchus church as a vow church in order to show his gratitude to these
saints.
After the conquer of İstanbul, the building, which was used as a church
for nearly 1000 years, was changed to a mosque by Hüseyin Agha, the Kapu
Agha, in 1504 during the 2nd Bayezid period.
Architectural Description
The building is one of typical samples of central planned, first period
Byzantine churches in the capital Constantinople. Narthex lies at the
west and semi-hexagonal shaped apsis lies at the east side of the
irregular, rectangular planned church. The octagonal planned centre area,
which was placed in the irregular rectangle, was enlarged with semi-circle
shaped niches called exedra. The location integrity has been ensured
between the centre area and apsis by placing polygonal shaped pillars to
the corners of this centre area and two each column among these pillars.
In terms of plan, the building has the similar characteristics with
Ravenna - St. Vitale, Aachen - Aix Le Chapella and Basra - Bacchus
churches; but it is completely different in third dimension.
On the centre area, there is 16 sectioned dome carried by eight big
pillars on its corners. Eight of these sections are plain and eight of
them are concave. Arch shaped windows have been opened on the plain
sections. The upper surface of the corridors providing passage from the
centre area to rectangular form takes shape of a gallery at the upper
floor. At the gallery floor, the upper surface of the exedras is
furnished with semi - domes carried by three arches.
It is being supposed that the inner walls were ornamented with mosaics
during construction, as seen in the buildings of the same period. But
today there is no proof verifying this supposition; the inner surface of
the building is fully plastered. The only ornament in the building
belonging to Byzantine Period is an architrave formed with bunch of
grapes and leaves having a slender workmanship at the gallery floor
level, around the centre area. It is being asserted that the building
was constructed on the area of a tempest made on behalf of Bakus, the
God of wine, in idolatry period and the name Bacchus came accordingly.
Building Material
The building material used for St. Sergius and Bacchus church is stone,
brick and plaster. Except the restored parts, the walls on northern,
western and eastern fronts are made by reinforcement of bricks with
stones arranged in wide intervals. The bricks of 70 x 35 x 5 cm are
adhered together with plaster of 4 - 5 cm. On the southern front which
is a 19th century structure there are irregular laid stones and bricks.
Various lime types have been used for stone lines made for reinforcement
of bricks. In the building, for the pillars, shelled limestone adhered
with 4 cm plaster was used on the ground floor and brick was used on the
gallery floor. Bricks were used as material for the vaults of the
corridors and the gallery floor and for the central dome, and the bricks
are laid in a manner to form radial pointing united at the centre of the
vault.
The columns between the pillars are made of red and green serpatine, the
head of columns and the architrave at the gallery floor level are made
of Mediterranean marble. After the building was changed to a mosque, the
pulpit muezzin gallery added to the building are also made of marble.
The Changes in the Building
According to the sources, the first damage and thus the first
restoration in the building had been done after the Iconoclasm movements
in the 9th century (Müller - Weiner 1977). And after the Latin invasion,
the inner ornament needed to be restored (Paolesi 1961).
In 1054, Hüseyin Agha, the Kapu Agha, changed the building to a mosque
and during this changing works all inner ornaments of the building were
changed and some parts specific to a mosque were added to the building.
These parts were a pulpit to south - east, a muezzin gallery to north -
west in the inner side and a congregation area in front of the western
wall in the outer side. Many windows at various dimensions were opened
with ottoman architectural characteristics; and some of the existing
windows were closed.
An independent minaret was established to the south - west corner of the
building. The characteristic of the first minaret is not being known. It
is being stated in the sources that a new minaret with Baroque style was
made in the 18th century (S. Eyice 1978). The body of the Baroque style
minaret was placed on an octagonal pulpit; the body climbs on the
Baroque profile arches and joined to a minaret balcony with a bracelet
part. The banister of the minaret balcony having baroque style ornaments
was made of plain plates. The minaret having a lead coated classical
spire was destroyed up to its pulpit in 1936 due to unknown reasons. The
minaret, which remained ruined for a few years, was rebuilt in 1955.
Since 1600, 89 earthquakes with intensity bigger than 6, were observed
in İstanbul, which is located on an important seismic zone. Thus, it is
certain that Small St. Irene Mosque lived more earthquakes (N. Çamlıbel
1991). It was stated that in Hüseyin Agha's foundations (the Kapu Agha),
the plasters fell and the windows at north and south were broken in the
earthquake of 1968 and most part of the building was damaged in the
earthquake of 1763; and the restoration works of the building were given
to Ahmet Agha (S. Eyice, 1978).
In 1870 - 1871, a railway was established in the region between the
building and the northern sea ramparts in a manner to pass 5 km away
from the building. The railway, which is at an altitude of 1 m. from the
ground level, served as single line for nearly 50 years. According to
the sources, as the stones of the southern walls fell at each pass of
the train, a wall in the Ottoman style was laid in 1877 (Mathews 1971).
At the beginning of the 20th century, the railway was made double lined
by increasing 3 m from the ground level.
The building, which was used as a sheltering place during Balkan War by
the people who escaped from the war, was restored twice in 1937 and
1955, in the Republic Period (S. Eyice, 1978). The front of the building,
which was known to be plastered and whitewashed, was restored after 1955
and brick and stone lays were made to be visible at all fronts except
the drum of cupola.
There are some cracks at north - east and south - east sides, especially
at exedras of the building, which is today used as a mosque. These
continuous cracks begin from the cupola, pass the gallery vaults and go
up to the outer walls of the building. The necessary activities should
be carried out in order to find the occurring reason of these cracks and
to repair them.
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