Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Part 26

S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. NARTHEX OF THE NORTH CHURCH, LOOKING NORTH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. OUTER NARTHEX OF THE SOUTH CHURCH, LOOKING NORTH.

_To face page 232._]

It would appear that the Pantokrator was abandoned by its Christian owners very soon after the conquest. The great decrease of the Greek population that followed the downfall of the city left several quarters of Constantinople with few if any Christian inhabitants, and so brought to an end the native religious service in many churches of the capital.

For some time thereafter the deserted building was used by fullers and workers in leather as a workshop and dwelling.[401] But the edifice was too grand to be allowed to suffer permanent degradation, and some twenty years later it was consecrated to Moslem wors.h.i.+p by a certain Zerek Mehemed Effendi.[402] Its actual name, Zerek Kilissi Jamissi, recalls the double service the building has rendered, and the person who diverted it from its earlier to its later use.

_Architectural Features_

As it stands the Pantokrator is a combination of three churches, placed side by side, and communicating with one another through arched openings in their common walls. The three buildings are not of the same date, and opinions differ in regard to their relative age. On the whole, however, the northern church may be safely considered the earliest structure; the central church is somewhat later; the southern church is the latest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 76.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXVI.

S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. SOUTH BAY IN THE GALLERY OF THE SOUTH CHURCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. IN THE NORTH CHURCH, LOOKING SOUTH.

_To face page 234._]

_The Northern Church._--This is a simple and dignified building of the domed 'four column' type, with a gynaeceum above the narthex. The narthex is in four bays covered with cross-groined vaults on transverse arches. Its southern bay, however, is a later extension, running about half-way in front of the central church to give access to a door into that building. Only two bays of the original narthex have doors opening into the north church; the third door which once existed in the northern bay has been partly built up. The narthex is very much out of repair, and the western wall threatens to fall outwards. The dome, pierced by eight windows, shows so many Turkish features that it may be p.r.o.nounced as mostly, if not wholly, a Turkish construction. The four square piers which support it are manifestly Turkish. When Gyllius visited the church in the sixteenth century the dome arches rested on four columns of Theban granite, 'hemispherium sustentatur quatuor arcubus, quos fulciunt quatuor columnae marmoris Thebaici.'[403] Barrel vaults cover the arms of the cross, which, as usual in churches of this type, appears distinctly above the roof on the exterior. The southern arm extends to the central church and its vault is pierced by two windows, inserted, probably, to compensate for the loss of light occasioned by the erection of that building. These windows furnish one indication of the earlier date of the north church. The gynaeceum, like the narthex below it, is covered with cross-groined vaults and contains a small fireplace. The prothesis and diaconicon have barrel vaults and apses with three sides projecting slightly on the exterior. The main apse has a very lofty triple window, and shows five sides. All the apses are decorated with high shallow blind niches, a simple but effective ornament.[404]

_The Central Church._--The central church is an oblong hall covered by two domes, and terminates in a large apse. It is extremely irregular in plan, and does not lie parallel to either of the churches between which it stands. The domes are separated by a transverse arch. The western dome, though flattened somewhat on the four sides, is approximately circular, and divided into sixteen shallow concave compartments, each pierced by a window. Some of these windows must have been always blocked by the roof of the north church. The eastern dome is a p.r.o.nounced oval, notwithstanding the attempt to form a square base for it by building a subsidiary arch both on the south and on the north. It is divided into twenty-four concave compartments, twelve of which have windows. The drums of the domes adjoin each other above the transverse arch, so that the central west window of the eastern dome is pierced through to the western dome. The two windows on either side of that window are blind, and must always have been so. The floor in the archway leading into the south church is paved with inlaid marbles forming a beautiful design (Fig. 76). If the whole floor of the church was thus decorated the effect must have been extremely rich. On the exterior the apse shows seven sides, decorated with shallow blind niches. Like the church it is very irregularly set out. (Plate LXIX.)

The central church probably served as a mausoleum for the tombs of the imperial personages interred at the Pantokrator. In its form and in the arrangement of its domes, as well as in its position on the south of the church to which it strictly belongs, it resembles the parecclesion of S.

Saviour in the Chora (p. 310).

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXVII.

S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. THE PULPIT IN THE SOUTH CHURCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. WEST SIDE OF THE CENTRAL BAY IN THE GALLERY OF THE SOUTH CHURCH.

_To face page 236._]

_The South Church._--The south church is of the same plan as the north church, but is larger and more richly decorated. It has two narthexes, which extend to both the north and south beyond the body of the building. The outer narthex, entered by a single door placed in the centre, is in five bays, covered with cross-groined vaults resting on pilasters. Its floor is paved with large slabs of Proconnesian marble surrounded by a border of red marble. Five doors lead to the esonarthex--the three central doors being framed in red marble, the other two in verd antique. On either side of the central door is a window also framed in verd antique, the jambs of the windows being cut from old columns, and retaining the circular form on their faces. Over the central door and the windows beside it is a large arch between two smaller arches--all three, as well as their bracket capitals, now partially built up. There is a door framed in verd antique in each end bay of the narthex. Like the outer narthex the esonarthex is in five bays, and was paved with marble in a similar fas.h.i.+on. But while its other bays are covered with cross-groined vaults the central bay is open to the gallery above, and is overhung by a drum dome. The gallery was thus divided into two parts by the open central bay, and both gallery and narthex were lighted by the dome. The exterior of this dome is twelve-sided, with flat angle pilasters and level moulded plaster cornice. It has evidently been repaired by the Turks. The inside, however, preserves the Byzantine work. It is in twenty-four concave apartments pierced by twelve windows, of which those facing the west cross arm of the church are blind. As the original west window still shows from the inside, though built up, it would appear that the gynecaeum dome was added after the completion of the main church. At present the open bay is ceiled by the woodwork that forms the floor of the tribune occupied by the Sultan when he attends wors.h.i.+p in the mosque.[405] A door in the northern wall of the north bay communicates with the narthex of the north church, while a door in the eastern wall of the bay gives access to the central church. Two doors in similar positions in the bay at the south end of the narthex led to buildings which have disappeared. The three doors leading from the narthex into the church are framed in red marble, the other doors in white marble.

The main dome of the church is in sixteen compartments, and is pierced by as many windows. Its arches rest on four shafted columns, somewhat Gothic in character, and crowned with capitals distinctly Turkish. These columns have replaced the columns of porphyry, seven feet in circ.u.mference, which Gyllius saw bearing the arches of the dome when he visited the church: 'maximum (tectum) sustentatur quatuor columnis pyrrhopoecilis, quarum perimeter habet septem pedes.'[406] The southern wall is lighted by a triple window in the gable and a row of three windows below the string-course. The northern wall was treated on the same plan, but with the modifications rendered necessary by the union of the church with the earlier central church. The triple windows in the gable of that wall are therefore almost blocked by the roof of the central church against which it is built; while the three windows below the string-course are blind and are cut short by the arch opening into the central church, as that arch rises higher than the string-course.

As explained, the gynaeceum above the inner narthex is divided by the open central bay of that narthex into two compartments, each consisting of two bays. The bays to the south are narrow, with transverse arches of decidedly elliptical form. A window divided by shafts in three lights, now built up, stood in the bay at the extreme south, and similar windows looked down into the open bay of the narthex from the bays on either hand. The northern compartment of the gynaeceum connects with the gynaeceum of the north church.

In the interior the apse retains a large portion of its revetment of variously coloured marbles, and gives some idea of the original splendour of the decoration. Fragments of fine carving have been built into the pulpit of the mosque, and over it is a Byzantine canopy supported on twin columns looped together, like the twin columns on the facade of S. Mark's at Venice.

The lateral apses are covered with cross-groined vaults, and project in three sides externally, while the central apse shows seven sides. All are lighted by triple windows, and decorated on the exterior with niches, like the other apses in this group of buildings, and those of S.

Theodosia.

In the brickwork found in the fabric of the Pantokrator, as Mr. W. S.

George has pointed out, two sizes of brick are employed, a larger and a smaller size laid in alternate courses. The larger bricks look like old material used again.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXVIII.

S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. INTERIOR OF THE EAST DOME IN THE CENTRAL CHURCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. INTERIOR OF THE DOME IN THE SOUTH CHURCH, LOOKING NORTH.

_To face page 238._]

As already intimated, the monastery was autonomous ([Greek; autodespotos, autexousios]), and its abbot was elected by the brotherhood in the following manner:--On some suitable occasion the abbot for the time being placed secretly in a box the names of three members of the fraternity whom he considered fit to succeed him after his death, and having sealed the box deposited it in the sacristy of the church. Upon that abbot's death the box was opened in the presence of the whole fraternity, and the names recommended by the late chief were then put to the vote. If the votes were unanimous the person thus chosen became the new abbot without further delay. But in case of disagreement, a brother who could neither read nor write placed the same names upon the altar of the church; there they remained for three days; and then, after the celebration of a solemn service, another illiterate monk drew one name off the altar, and in doing so decided the question who should fill the vacant office. The church was served by eighty priests and fifty a.s.sistants, who were divided into two sets, officiating on alternate weeks.

In connection with the monastery there was a bath, capable of containing six persons, in which the monks were required to bathe twice a month, except during Lent, when the bath was used only in cases of illness.

The home for old men supported by the House accommodated twenty-four persons, providing them with bread, wine, oil, cheese, fuel, medical attendance, and small gifts of money.

The hospital had fifty beds for the poor. It was divided into five wards: a ward of ten beds for surgical cases; another, of eight beds, for grave cases; a third, of ten beds, for less serious complaints; the fourth ward had twelve beds for women; the fifth contained ten beds for what seemed light cases. Each ward was in charge of two physicians, three medical a.s.sistants, and four servitors. A lady physician, six lady medical a.s.sistants, and two female nurses, took charge of the female patients. The sick were visited daily by a house doctor, who inquired whether they were satisfied with their treatment, examined their diet, and saw to the cleanliness of the beds. The ordinary diet consisted of bread, beans, onions, oil, and wine.[407] Throughout their history the monasteries of Constantinople remembered the poor. (See Plate III.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 77.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGS. 78 AND 79.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 80.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXIX.

S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. THE EAST END, FROM THE SOUTH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. THE EAST WINDOW OF THE CENTRAL CHURCH.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. SAVIOUR PANTOKRATOR. THE EAST END, FROM THE NORTH.

_To face page 242._]

[358] _De top. C.P._ iv. c. 2, p. 283, 'in supercilio quarti collis vergente ad solis ortum visitur templum Pantocratoris, ill.u.s.tre memoria recentium scriptorum.'

[359] _Tagebuch_, p. 157.

[360] _Itin. russes_, pp. 105, 233-34.

[361] Du Cange, _Const. Christ._ iv. p. 81; _Itin. russes_, pp. 123, 203-4.

[362] Synax., August 13; Cinnamus, p. 9; Phrantzes, p. 210.

[363] Du Cange, _C.P. Christ._ iv. p. 81, quoting Anselm, bishop of Havelsberg, who was in Constantinople as the amba.s.sador of Lothair the Great to the Emperor John in 1145.

[364] MS. No. 85, in the Library of the Theological Seminary at Halki.

[365] Synax., 13th August.

[366] Pp. 66, 151.

[367] MS. No. 85, in the Library of the Theological Seminary at Halki.

[368] Vol. i. p. 555.

[369] _Ancient and Modern C.P._ p. 69.