1. Name –Location

The Xyloporta (meaning Wooden Gate) district is located across the coastal walls close to the Blachernai Palace, between the Blachernai and Hunter’s gates.¹ The Xyloporta or Tahtakale or Lonca parish, which also used to be called parish of Kanabis, is one of the most remote districts along the shore of the Golden Horn; it extends north of the Blachernai hill and borders the Panagia (Virgin Mary) of Souda on the west, while its gate leads to the Eyüp district.² As the Armenian 17^th century traveler Eremya Çelebi Kömürciyan characteristically mentions: “if one leg [of the city] is in Eptapyrgion (Yedikule), the other is here, in Ayvan Saray”.³

In 16^th century Ottoman records, the district is referred to as Μahalle-i Eksiliporta; gradually, however, and –even to this day– the name Ayvan Saray prevailed, presumably due to its proximity to the palace (saray) of Blachernai. Eremya Kömürciyan also records it as the Ayvan Saray gate, adding that it was the 20^th gate of the city walls.⁴ According to the Armenian historian Injijian, Ayvan Saray is a corrupt pronunciation of the name St. Mamas, which was a church that used to be located by the gate.⁵

The area was well known and notable as a district as early as the Byzantine period. It is, as noted by Akylas Millas, the ancient Xylas area, where the ingenious Grand Duke Alexios Apokaukos resided, who, according to legend, kept a beached boat there in case of emergency flight.⁶ Here, as well, was the location of the celebrated church dedicated to Panagia (Virgin Mary) of Blachernai.

2. Population

After the Fall of Constantinople, the district continued to serve as one of the residential areas for Christians within the city walls, inhabited by the few Christians who had remained in town, as well as the residents-colonists, who were translocated to Constantinople from other newly-conquered areas of the Ottoman Empire. According to a census ordered by the kadi of Constantinople, in 1478 there were 3,151 Greek households on the peninsula of Constantinople.⁷ During the next century there was an increase in both the Muslim and non-Muslim population.⁸ Indeed, as far as the Christian community was concerned, according to records from 1540 and 1544 with regard to revenue from Mehmed II’swakf, 1,547 Greeks were registered within the city walls.⁹ For the matter at hand, 52 Christian families were recorded to inhabit the Xyloporta district, 17 of which were mentioned to originate from Lesvos –conquered by the Ottomans in 1462.¹⁰ The district was considered significant and attracted Christian residents, since the Patriarchate was housed in the local parish church for some time during the 16^th century.

When Eremya Çelebi Kömürciyan visited the city towards the end of the 17^th century, he recorded that the area was also inhabited by Jews –the wealthier residing along the coast– and Roma, mainly in the yard surrounding the Panagia of Blachernai holy water fountain, a practice that continued at least until the mid-19^th century, as other sources inform us. He also mentions a workshop producing bottles and other glass containers, as well as quays for ships heading for Eyüp along the shore.¹¹

During the 19^th century, the area continued to serve as one of the most popular residential areas for Christians on the peninsula of Constantinople, albeit its Christian population was less dense in comparison to other districts, Fener for example.¹² Records from the following century indicate that the population in the area was mixed (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Roma) and that the district gradually devolved into one the most indigent ones in that part of Constantinople; it became a residential area for menial workers, minor artisans and seamen.¹³ The small characteristic boatyards that lay along the shore were dismantled in the 1980s due to plans to widen the road and redevelop the area.¹⁴

Reşad Ekrem Koçu, who writes after the mid-20^th century, records that Lonca, as the internal part of Ayvan Saray was called, was along with the Sulukule district the most significant Roma settlement in town; he also adds that some of the most famed meyhanes (drinking dives) were locate there and that the area was considered a “folk music school” having produced celebrated musicians.¹⁵

3. The Orthodox community

3.1. Church, holy water springs and communal associations

There are two significant Christian landmarks in the Xylporta district, around which the Christian population gathered: the Agios Demetrios (St. Demetrius) church of Xyloporta and the Panagia (Virgin Mary) of Blachernai holy water spring.

The St. Demetrius church of Kanabis was the community’s parish church. The name “Kanabis” probably derived from some significant personage residing in the area, possibly Patricius Nikolaos, also called Kanabos, who had served as emperor for a few days in 1204.¹⁶ The church was built between the Ioannis Prodromos (St. John the Precursor) Gate and the Wooden one and housed the Patriarchate after its sojourn at the Panagia Pammakaristos (Church of the Virgin Pammakaristos – Fethiye Camii) and before its final settlement at Fener in 1605.¹⁷Manouil Gedeon records that the church “having come into debt was sold by stringent creditors and bought in 1597 by Meletius Pegas, the glorious Patriarch of Alexandria and locum tenens for the patriarchal throne of Constantinople”.¹⁸ The church was partly destroyed by fire in 1640 and 1730, until 1728 however it was maintained with all its lush mosaic decorations.¹⁹ It was rebuilt consecutively in 1730, 1835, 1933 and 1960, as indicated by built-in inscriptions.²⁰ During the 1835 renovations and due to strain on the building inflicted by earthquakes and fires, it collapsed and was reconstructed from scratch.²¹ The last renovation in the church took place in 1995.²² The church is indirectly mentioned in the catalogue of churches composed by Karabeinikov in 1539, as well as Thomas Smith’s 1669 list, where it is registered as the “Wood Gate” church.²³ In the churchyard was the location of the Prophitis Elias (Prophet Elijah) holy water (agiasma).²⁴

The second holy water fountain of the parish was the Panagia (Virgin Mary) of Blachernai one. It was located on the inside of the gate and was built, according to several attestations and sources, on the location of the Byzantine church of Panagia (Virgin Mary) of Blachernai or Panagia ton Kinigon (Virgin Mary of the Hunters), which was part of the Blachernai palace complex.²⁵ The ecclesiastical complex was completed during the reign of Emperor Leo I, when the Agion Lousma (Holy Wash) hagiasma was also constructed. According to Manouil Gedeon, the church “neglected and in ruins during the years after the Fall of Constantinople, was owned by a certain Ottoman, who made his living from the measly coins paid by the pilgrims visiting the hagiasma; it was purchased from his descendants by the furriers’ guild”.²⁶

This piece of information is confirmed by Scarlatus Byzantius, who adds that “the benevolent and Christian furriers’ guild, which we find everywhere there is need for charitable and holy deeds, showed their earnestness most recently [1851] by buying the land and trying to banish from there the filthy Madianites; they walled and cleaned the churchyard and the arch of the holy water fountain, trying to transform the area into a garden, while waiting to acquire the neighbouring Turkish buildings in order to gloriously reconstruct, with their own means, this historical monument of Constantinople”.²⁷

However, this initiative on the part of he furriers’ guild was met with reaction from the Xyloporta community, who claimed for themselves the property of the hagiasma, supporting that it was located on the border of its parish. The dispute was resolved with a patriarchal epistle of 1847, the year when a small church was built “on the underground Byzantine archway”.²⁸

Until the beginning of the previous century, Roma inhabited the yard surrounding the holy water fountain. In 1913 the Ladies’ Society “Panagia of Blachernai” was founded, with its headquarters located in Fener and under the auspices of the Patriarch. Its purpose was, according to its statute, to renovate and spruce the area, as well as to construct a building in the yard for the priests and build a chamber for memorial services.²⁹ The holy water source, which attracted and still attracts both Christians and Muslims,³⁰ was seriously damaged during the events of September 1955, when its valuable oblations were lost. The small church of the hagiasma was renovated in 1960 and on June 26^th of the same year, the inauguration ceremony took place.³¹

Similar to the aforementioned association was the Ladies’ Benevolent Society “Agia Barbara” (St. Barbara), which was founded on January 18^th 1910 aiming to decorate and spruce the Agios Demetrios church.³² Other associations within the community were the: “Nine Muses” Society, which was probably founded in 1868 aiming to support the indigent students of the community, and the short-lived “Kronos” Athletic and Football Association, which we come across in 1921.³³ During the tenure of Patriarch Joachim III, a charitable society was founded in Fener in order to help and support the poor and indigent of the area and the neighbouring districts, including the Xyloporta community.³⁴ Finally, in 1922 an orphanage operated at Xyloporta, under the patronage of the Fener and Mouchlio parishes, which was supported by the Greek Ladies’ Charitable Society of Fener.³⁵

3.2. Education

In the Xyloporta parish –which at the beginning of the 20^th century was counted among the second order of parishes apparently based on significance, ergo profit, according to the sextons’ association called “Taxiarch”–³⁶ a school of Greek letters is recorded in 1850 with Dorotheos as priest and teacher. The school was maintained by subscriptions and not by the funds of the Agios Demetrios church.³⁷ In 1884, 90 students were registered attending the school, as well as two teachers. It was financially supported by an annual subsidy from the Panagia of Blachernai holy water spring, by contributions from notable personages within the community, from the alms dish in favour of the school in the Agios Demetrios church, from tuition and entrance fees, as well as subscriptions from the “Nine Muses” Society. The school was housed on the society’s premises after a fire destroyed the school building in 1879, when the society built a reading room and library for the students. In order to construct a new school building, the support of the Mount Athos community was also asked; the foundation stone was cast a decade later, in 1889. The school was operated by the society and the parish.³⁸ In 1906 the Xyloporta community ran a five-grade school and an all-girls school.³⁹

3.3. The decline of the community