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Monastery of St. George of Mangana

Συγγραφή : Asimakopoulos Dimitris (30/7/2007)
Μετάφραση : Loumakis Spyridon (26/9/2008)

Για παραπομπή: Asimakopoulos Dimitris, "Monastery of St. George of Mangana", 2008,
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=11765>
Μονή Αγίου Γεωργίου Μαγγάνων (28/6/2007 v.1) Monastery of St. George of Mangana (28/6/2007 v.1) 
 

1. Saint George of Mangana

The monastery is situated on the region immediately to the west of the railway between the station Sirkedji and Yedicule, at a distance of around 50 meters from the shores of the Sea of Marmara (fig. 1).1 In this area, the gardens of Gülhane are lying today, whereas the ruins of the monastery have been covered by earth and vegetation. The monastery was dedicated to saint and great martyr George the Tropaiophoros (Trophy bearer).2 It was erected around the middle of the 11th century, upon an artificial terrace, to the north of the palace of Mangana and immediately to the west of the nearby monastery of Christ Philanthropos, near Kynegion and the arsenal. The katholikon dominated on the landscape, since it was raised above the sea wall, whereas at the same time it had a direct view towards Bosporos and the Asian shore.3

2. History of the research

The location of the monastery was uncertain until the first quarter of the 20th century. Its ruins were accidentally stumbled upon by the French troops of occupation after the First World War and were hastily excavated in1922-1923 by R. Demangel and E. Mamboury. The two researchers identified the ruins with the monastery of Saint George and much later they published the results of their excavations in a short text that still remains the basic work about the monument.4 R. Janin5 agreed with the identification of the French, so as this one became commonly accepted. With the architectural type were mainly preoccupied C. Mango6 and Ch. Bouras.7 Finally, Ν. Oikonomides elaborated a historical study in relation to the monastery, based mainly on various epigraphic data.8

3. History of the monument

The monastery was founded by the emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055),9 who died and was buried within the precinct of the monastery.10 The learned man Michael Psellos reports in his Chronographywith an attitude to criticize that the emperor built and repeatedly reconstructed the church, trying to imitate the church of Hagia Sophia, although this particular intension is not clearly confirmed by the data of the excavation.11 In the sources this splendid and at the same time provocative building activity is believed to be a pretext for the erotic intercourse of Constantine with sebaste Maria Skleraina in the palace that the emperor built especially for that reason near Kynegion.12 However, in spite of the emperor’s questionable motivations, it is certain that it was about a monumental complex of high intentions.13

The complex, raised inside a cluster of gardens with small woods and waters, was the most important and wealthiest religious foundation of the quarter of Mangana from the mid-11th century until the Ottoman occupation. The monastic community enjoyed imperial donations,14 whereas high ranking persons connected their name with the monastery. Quite characteristic is the case of Constantine Leichoudes, who had undertaken at times high governmental dignities and later became patriarch of Constantinople. The historian John Zonaras reports that Leichoudes received from Constantine Monomachos the pronoia and the legal claims of the monastery, in practice constituting the guarantee of its financial independence. The above-mentioned grantings of privilege had a life-long character; however, in 1059 the emperor Isaac I Komnenos forced Monomachos’ favourite to resign from his rights and acquired the control of the foundation.15

During the 12th century the monastery expanded, whereas in 1118 John II Komnenos was proclaimed emperor in its area.16 The abbot of the monastery was second in the hierarchy of the councils and official ceremonies, whereas in1176 one of its abbots, Chariton, was elected patriarch.17 At the end of the 12th century the monastery was embellished and acquired a rich library.18 At the same time, the big monastic centre attracted pilgrims, who came in great numbers to venerate the holy relics kept inside the katholikon. The sources mention as the most noteworthy the head of Saint George and the hand of Saint Procopios.19

The Latin occupation did not damage the authority of the monastery. The church of the Tropaiophoros followed the Latin ritual, until the recapture of the city, and it preserved its burial character.20 From Russian itinerary texts we know that in the 14th century inside the temple the body of Sainte Anna was kept, as well as the Symbols of the Holy Passion,21 whereas a century later the monastery was still a financially wealthy foundation: there were still holy relics and the burials of members of the clergy continued and probably of the imperial house as well.22 In 1354 the emperor John VI Kantakouzenos retired to the monastery (1347-1354), when he decided to become a monk.23 We know as well that in 1417 the deacon and later metropolitan of Ephesus Mark took refuge in the monastery, who stayed there for twenty years, during which he devoted himself to a rich work as author and teacher. He died in the area of the monastery in 1444 and was buried near the entrance to the katholikon. After the Fall his relics were translated to the Lazaros monastery, in Galata.24

After 1453 the monastery was sacked and afterwards a tekke was built for dervishes on the same site. Parts of its liturgical furniture and architectural members were used as building material for the defensive precinct of the new construction. Later, the monastic complex was raised to the ground along with the whole region, when the decision was taken for the creation of the gardens of Gülhane. Finally, in 1871 the eastern part of the substructure of the monastery was destroyed, during the works of the construction for the railway.25

4. Architecture

Few architectural remains have been preserved. The preserved evidences are confined to the substructures of the monastic buildings, to scattered parts of the walls and to detached architectural members.

4.1. Katholikon

The church lies on the north side of the area and initially was accessible through a prolonged atrium on the west (fig. 2).

The monument rests on a cubic substructure,26 that functioned as a cistern. Four strong cross-shaped piers divide this underground area into square and octagonal in shape compartments covered with vaults, communicating through arched openings (fig. 3).

At the ground floor level the side walls of the church are preserved at a low height, as well as the western piers and parts of the eastern ones. The buttresses are Γ- shaped and are curved on the inner corner. The southern wall bears a semicircular niche in the middle of its length. The narthex and the bema are not preserved,27 whereas nothing remains from the upper structure.

The architectural type of the church still remains undefined. The shape of the reinforced substructure, the thickness of the walls and the type of the buttresses refer to a five-domed church28 with a square-in-shape core and areas that surrounded it. An important detail constitutes the curving of the piers, but their formation at a height remains unknown. Thus, it is uncertain if the church was a domed octagon, a pseudo-octagon church or a domed church with ambulatory. The third case seems more possible, whereas the solutions of the Greek cross-domed octagonchurch or of the free-cross can be excluded (fig. 4)29.

The wall masonry is characterized by the extensive application of the system of the recessed-brick technique. This particular method is met on the substructures30 and the atrium of the katholikon, on the blindarcades and the semicircular conches of the south wall (fig. 5a-b)31.

For the decoration and the liturgical furniture of the church we possess some information from the written sources. West of the church there was an octagonal baptistery rested on columns.32 The floor of the katholikon was covered with multi-colored marbles, whereas the walls bore marble marble revetments and were decorated with luxurious mosaic images.33 There were as well precious liturgical vessels and reliquaries.34

4.2. Annexes

The subterranean construction to the south of the katholikon functioned as a cistern and it was connected with the substructure of the church (fig. 6). It was divided into two prolonged parts through a thick wall.35 The galleries were covered with barrel vaults, whereas the south part was reinforced in addition with six domes. The walls followed the mixed technique of wall masonry. Some of the bricks bore stamps with Constantine’s monogram (fig. 7).

With the monastery was connected the cistern lying 50m to the west of the previous one as well. The rectangular hall was divided, through two colonnades of six columns each, into 21 domed compartments (fig. 8). To the south lied one more system of vaulted substructures. The succession and the coordination of walls in some parts give evidence for the existence of more than one building phases. Here was lying a hall with an apse, the conch of which was connected with a two-columned porch of burial character (fig. 9). Inside the subterranean area was found the relief plaque of the Virgin orans, dated to the 11th century (fig. 10).36

A last substructure, eventually connected with the monastery, supported the remains of an isolated building with an apse, where three phases are discerned (fig. 11). Maybe it is about the church of Panachrantos or about the church of the Pantanassa monastery.37

*The entry's iconographical documentation is still in process.

1. Information about the location of the monastery within the urban planning of the city derives from the topographical map of Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939) pl. 3.

2. The full dedication of the monastery is written on a seal of the Dumbarton Oaks collection. See Oikonomides N., "St. George of Mangana, Maria Skleraina, and the 'Malyj Sion' of Novgorod", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 34-35 (1980-1981), p. 239.

3. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 23 and Mathews T. F., The Byzantine Churches of Istanbul. A Photographic Survey (University Park - London1976), p. 200.

4. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), where the rest of the monuments of the region are examined together. The first part of the book is historical-topographical. In the second part are briefly introduced and often in an incomplete way the findings from the excavation, which can generally be summed up in architectural sculpture, pottery and inscriptions. For the findings from the monastery of Tropaiophoros, see pp. 113-131(architectural sculpture), 134-154 (inscriptions and pottery), 155-161 (relief plaque of Virgin Orans).

5. Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (Paris2 1969).

6. Mathews T. F., "Observations on the Church of Panagia Kamariotissa on Heybeliada (Chalke), Istanbul", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 27 (1973), pp. 115-133 and Mango C., Byzantine Architecture (New York 1976).

7. Μπούρας Χ., "Τυπολογικές παρατηρήσεις στο καθολικό της Μονής Μαγγάνων στην Κωνσταντινούπολη", Αρχαιολογικό Δελτίο 31Α΄ (Μελέται) (1976), pp. 136-151.

8. Oikonomides N., "St. George of Mangana, Maria Skleraina, and the 'Malyj Sion' of Novgorod", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 34-35 (1980-1981), pp. 239-246.

9. Ιωάννης Σκυλίτζης, Σύνοψις Ιστοριών, Thurn I. (ed.), Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis Historiarum (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 5, Berlin - New York 1973), pp. 476, 44-49. Cf. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la premiere region de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 20. For the chronology of the complex, see also Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la premiere region de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 19 as well as Janin R., La geographie ecclesiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siege de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecumenique: les eglises et les monasteres (2Paris 1969)pp. 70-76,199-207,527-529 and Μπούρας Χ., "Τυπολογικές παρατηρήσεις στο καθολικό της Μονής Μαγγάνων στην Κωνσταντινούπολη", Αρχαιολογικό Δελτίο 31Α΄ (Μελέται) (1976), p. 136.

10. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 19 and note 3.

11. Μιχαήλ Ψελλός, Χρονογραφία, Renauld É. (ed.), Michel Psellos, Chronographie ou histoire d’un siècle de Byzance (976-1077) 2 (Paris 1928) ch. 185-186 and Μπούρας Χ., "Τυπολογικές παρατηρήσεις στο καθολικό της Μονής Μαγγάνων στην Κωνσταντινούπολη", Αρχαιολογικό Δελτίο 31Α΄ (Μελέται) (1976) note 21.

12. Μιχαήλ Ψελλός, Χρονογραφία, Renauld É. (ed.), Michel Psellos, Chronographie ou histoire d’un siècle de Byzance (976-1077) 1 (Paris 1926) ch. 143 f.

13. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 19 note 7 and Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (Paris2 1969), p. 71.

14. The imperial grantings very often entailed in exchange the hospitality of fallen civil and religious persons, who were obliged to enkleismos (enclosment and seclusion). See Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 20. For the imperial donation see also Mango C - Talbot A. M., "Mangana", in A. Kazhdan (editor-in-chief), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2 (New York - Oxford 1991), p. 1283, where bibliography is cited in reference to the subject of "προνοίας of Mangana".

15. See Oikonomides N., "St. George of Mangana, Maria Skleraina, and the 'Malyj Sion' of Novgorod", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 34-35 (1980-1981), pp. 244-245, where the related bibliography.

16. Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (2Paris 1969), p. 71.

17. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 20 note 7 and Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (Paris2 1969), p. 71, where it is mentioned that two centuries later the abbot of the monastery bore the title of archimandrite and of protosynkellos.

18. Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (2Paris 1969), p. 75.

19. This particular information is preserved in an itinerary text of the archbishop Anthony of Novgorod. See Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 20 and note 11.

20. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 20, note 14.

21. Those were the Holy Tunic, the Holy Lance, the Holy Reed and the Holy Sponge. In 1350 Stephan of Novgorod reported their existence in the church, information that is attested by John Kantakouzenos. As it appears from Greek and foreign sources, the Symbols of the Passion were kept there until the end of the century, but in 1420 were translated to the nearby church of Pantanassa. See Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 21, note 1-8 and Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (Paris2 1969), p. 74.

22. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 22, note 2-6. Nevertheless, it has to be pointed out that as a rule the Palaiologoi used the Blachernai monastery as burial complex.

23. Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (Paris2 1969), p. 72.

24. Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (2Paris 1969), pp. 72-73, where the related bibliography.

25. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 22.

26. The construction of churches upon substructures, used as cistern or shops, characterizes in a way the middle Byzantine church architecture of Constantinople. This particular practice can be found on the katholikon of the Myrelaion monastery and the church of Christ Pantepoptes.

27. The hypothetical ground plan of Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939) with a tripartite sanctuary and the north portico rested on columns, from which few evidence are preserved, has been generally accepted. Μπούρας Χ., "Τυπολογικές παρατηρήσεις στο καθολικό της Μονής Μαγγάνων στην Κωνσταντινούπολη", Αρχαιολογικό Δελτίο 31Α΄ (Μελέται) (1976) rejects the tribela between the piers.

28. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 26 support that the five-domed scheme is mentioned in Alexiada of Anna Komnene, without giving, however, an exact reference from the text. Μπούρας Χ., "Τυπολογικές παρατηρήσεις στο καθολικό της Μονής Μαγγάνων στην Κωνσταντινούπολη", Αρχαιολογικό Δελτίο 31Α΄ (Μελέται) (1976) 138 note 17 observes that eventually it is about a misunderstanding of the Greek text.

29. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la premiere region de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 26 vaguely supported that the church was of the cross-in-square type. Grabar A., "L'art byzantin au 11e siecle", Cahiers Archeologiques 17 (1967), p. 261 discerned on the studied monument the prototype of the Greek cross-domed octagon churches. C. Mango in Mathews T. F., "Observations on the Church of Panagia Kamariotissa on Heybeliada (Chalke), Istanbul", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 27 (1973), pp.130, 132 connected the temple with the octagon churches of the mainland, with the plan of the simple octagon church type and the pseydo-octagon one. The most complete and latest typological study about the katholikon was the one of Bouras, who examined every case and supported with convincing arguments the solution of the domed church with ambulatory. See Μπούρας Χ., "Τυπολογικές παρατηρήσεις στο καθολικό της Μονής Μαγγάνων στην Κωνσταντινούπολη", Αρχαιολογικό Δελτίο 31Α΄ (Μελέται) (1976),pp. 140-151.

30. Maguire H., "Gardens and Parks in Constantinople", Dumbartion Oaks Papers 54 (2000), p. 261.

31. Βελένης Γ., Ερμηνεία του εξωτερικού διακόσμου στη Βυζαντινή Αρχιτεκτονική, (Θεσσαλονίκη 1984), pp. 78-80. The double pilasters, that are interposed between the small conches and the niches were interpreted by Mango C., Byzantine Architecture (New York 1976), p. 231 as a brick version of a bundle of sticks and was attributed to Armenian influences.

32. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 22, note 1 and Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (2Paris 1969), p. 73. Eventually in this construction belongs the part of the wall to the west of the katholikon in the shape of a parallelogram. However, more possible is that it was about a fountain. Cf. Mango C., Byzantine Architecture (New York 1976), p. 231.

33. Michael Psellos, while condemning the excessive lavishness of the decoration, reports that all the internal surfaces were covered with gold stars. See Ousterhoot R., "Originality in Byzantine Architecture: The case of Nea Moni", JSAH 51 (1992), p. 56 note 23.The Spanish ambassador Clavijo, who visited the monastery in 1402, reports that the floor was covered with slabs of purple marble and jasper, whereas from the mosaics he mentions the Ancient of Days, the Ascension and the Pentecost. See Ruy Gonsalez de Clavijo, Histοria de Gran Tamorlan y itinerarion y enarracion del viage y relacion de la embahada (Madrid 1782), pp. 61-62. An anonymous Russian traveller describes two original representations in the narthex. See Janin R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantine 3: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique: les églises et les monastères (Paris2 1969), p. 74.

34. Clavijo saw a silver reliquary that included the Insruments of the Holy Passion, and the Holy Sanctuary, where the head of Saint Andrew was kept. See Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 22.

35. The eight unequal openings that allowed the access to the parallel corridors were later closed with a wall or confined.

36. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939) 31 and 154-160. See also Grabar A., Sculptures byzantines du moyen-âge 2. XIe- XIVe siècle (Paris 1976) 35-36 and Lange R., Die byzantinische Reliefikone (Recklinghausen 1964), pp. 43-44.

37. Demangel R.- Mamboury E., Le quartier de Manganes et la première région de Constantinople (Paris 1939), p. 36.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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