1.06 FC – Church Construction in Constantinople and beyond

After the building boom of the sixth century, Byzantine Constantinople experienced a period of several centuries of comparatively few new major ecclesiastical building projects. Beginning in the late ninth century, however, Constantinople saw a veritable explosion of new building activity that ultimately fueled the construction during the Middle Byzantine period of a multitude of new…

In the 11th century, Seljuks and Turkish Beyliks invaded Byzantine Anatolia, establishing Turkish rule. Despite some emigration of Byzantines, a significant local population remained, resulting in the coexistence of Christian and Islamic religious sites, sometimes within shared settlements and castles. Throughout the Rum Seljuk era, the bishoprics enabled Christian worship to continue, raising important questions:…

The aim of this paper is to present the “Ancient Marbles of Hagia Sophia Project,” conducted under the coordination of Asnu Bilban Yalçın, and the new findings obtained through the studies carried out within the scope of the project. In Hagia Sophia, some of the ancient colored marbles and other stones that can be easily…

It is generally accepted that the building which predated the Hagia Sophia (415) had the same orientation as the Theodosian church had and the current Justinian one has now — to the west. The rationale for this opinion is Palladius’ account of John Chrysostom’s exile from Constantinople in 404: the bishop left the Hagia Sophia…

Die Grablege Konstantins, die als Keimzelle der späteren Apostelkirche zu Konstantinopel gelten kann, wird seit jeher in der spätantiken und byzantinischen Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte sowie christlichen Archäologie intensiv untersucht. Während der archäologische Zugang über vergleichende Ansätze nur indirekt möglich ist, ist auf der Seite der schriftlichen Quellen zumindest die Ekphrasis vorhanden, die Eusebius in seiner…