Francesca Penoni-Thesis

ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE IN THE LATE 19 th EARLY 20 th CENTURY KAYSERI: SPATIAL AND CULTURAL CLEANSING By FRANCESCA PENONI Submitted to the Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History SABANCI UNIVERSITY January 2015 ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE IN THE LATE 19 th EARLY 20 th CENTURY KAYSERI: SPATIAL AND CULTURAL CLEANSING APPROVED BY: Tülay Artan ………………………. (Thesis Advisor) Halil Berktay ……………………….. Hülya Adak ………………………… DATE OF APPROVAL: 05.01.2015 © Francesca Penoni 2015 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE IN THE LATE 19 th EARLY 20 th CENTURY KAYSERI: SPATIAL AND CULTURAL CLEANSING Francesca Penoni History, M.A. Thesis, 2015 Thesis Advisor: Tülay Artan Keywords: Armenian religious architecture, Kayseri, Destruction This thesis is a study of the Ottoman Armenian religious architectural heritage in Kayseri and surrounding villages, with a particular focus on the destruction process that interested the Armenian churches and monasteries in the region. This study attempts to reconstruct the Armenian presence in the city center and the villages from mid- nineteenth century until 1915, through demographic make-up and main changes in the Armenian population of Kayseri. An investigation of the Armenian churches and monasteries built/rebuilt after the 1835 earthquake and the current conditions have been conducted through the creation of a catalogue. The thesis argues that the Armenian religious architecture of Kayseri and surroundings was targeted of spatial and cultural cleansing, as the removal or neglect process led to the vanishing/transformation of the majority of the analyzed architectural examples, including space-change and the end of the local Armenian culture. iv ÖZET GEÇ 19. VE ERKEN 20. YÜZYIL KAYSER İ’S İNDE ERMEN İ D İNİ M İMAR İSİ: MEKANSAL VE KÜLTÜREL ARINDIRMA Francesca Penoni Tarih, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, 2015 Tez Danı şmanı: Tülay Artan Anahtar Sözcükler: Ermeni dini mimarisi, Kayseri, İmha. Bu tez, Ermeni kilise ve manastırlarını ilgilendiren imha süreci özelinde, Kayseri ve civar köylerdeki Osmanlı Ermeni dini mimari mirasına odaklanmaktadır. Çalı şmada, Kayseri Ermeni toplumunun nüfusuna ili şkin de ğişiklikler ve tecrübe etti ği di ğer ana de ğişimler aracılı ğıyla, şehir merkezi ve köylerde, 19.yüzyıl ortasından 1915’e kadar olan süreçteki Ermeni varlı ğının yeniden in şası hedeflenmi ştir. 1835 depremi sonrasında –yeniden- in şa edilen Ermeni kiliseleri; manastırları ve bu yapıların mevcut durumları, hazırlanan katalog dahilinde de ğerlendirilmi ştir. Tezde, mekansal de ğişim ve yerel Ermeni kültürünün son bulması anlamını da ta şıyan yerinden etme ya da görmezden gelme sürecinin, ele alınan birçok mimari örne ğin yok olma/dönü ştürülmesine sebebiyet vermesiyle, Kayseri ve civarı Ermeni dini mimarisinin söz konusu mekansal ve kültürel imha sürecine hedef oldu ğu ileri sürülmü ştür. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Tülay Artan for her guidance, suggestions and time. I am also thankful to the members of my thesis committee, Halil Berktay and Hülya Adak for their precious comments and suggestions, which immensely helped me to improve the first version of the thesis. I am greatly indebted to Zeynep Yelçe, the second reader of this thesis, who supported and encouraged me during the most difficult stages of my work. Special thanks to my friends Sona Khachatryan and Ecem Ömero ğlu for their presence and support during these years and to Nehal Mohammed Ali for being the best roommate ever. I want to thank my friends in Italy who are always with me despite the distance. Especially I want to thank Marianna Vianello for her constant support and friendship. Finally, I am particularly grateful to my family and Masis for their love and encouragement that make me an extremely fortunate person. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 3 Structure and composition ......................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 1 KAYSERI AND THE SURROUNDING VILLAGES AND TOWNS ... 21 1.1. Demographic Makeup ........................................................................................ 27 1.1.1 Armenians in the City Center ...................................................................... 28 1.1.2. Armenians in the villages within the kazas of Kayseri and Develi ............ 32 1.2. Armenians in the Economic Life of Kayseri ...................................................... 37 1.3. Change in the Armenian Population of Kayseri ................................................. 40 1.4. A Sketch of the End of the Armenian Presence in Kayseri ................................ 44 CHAPTER 2 ARMENIAN CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES IN KAYSER İ AND SURROUNDINGS ......................................................................................................... 47 2.1. Armenian churches in the center of Kayseri ....................................................... 49 2.1.1. Surp Asdvadzadzin Church ........................................................................ 52 2.1.2. Surp Krikor Lusavorich Church ................................................................. 56 2.2. Armenian Churches and Monasteries in the Surroundings of Kayseri ............... 58 2.2.1. Armenian Churches in the Villages around Kayseri .................................. 60 vii 2.2.2. Armenian monasteries in the villages and town around Kayseri ............... 78 CHAPTER 3 ARMENIAN RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE OF KAYSERI AS TARGET OF SPATIAL AND CULTURAL CLEANSING ......................................... 82 3.1. Spatial Nationalism ............................................................................................. 83 3.2. Spatial Cleansing ................................................................................................ 86 3.3. Cultural Cleansing .............................................................................................. 90 3.4. Destruction of Material Culture .......................................................................... 96 3.4.1.The Case of Ottoman Armenian Architecture of Kayseri and the Villages 97 3.4.2 Armenian Churches as Private or State Properties Today ......................... 111 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................. 115 APPENDIX 1: CHRONOLOGY ................................................................................. 117 APPENDIX 2: The Ottoman Armenian population in 1914 ........................................ 119 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................... 121 viii List of Figures, Maps and Tables Map 1. The first Ottoman map of the sancak of Kayseri of the year 1910 Map 2. Armenian map of 1937 Table 1. Names of the villages in Armenian and in Turkish Map 3. Map of Kayseri’s neighborhoods in 1872 Table 2. Kayseri mahalle s inhabited by Armenians with corresponding number of male tax-payers Table 3. Villages and towns with the number of Armenian male tax payers Table 4. Villages and towns with the number of Armenian male tax payers Map 4. The Armenian churches in the center of Kayseri, the Gregorian churches of Surp Sarkis, Surp Asdvadzadzin and Surp Krikor Lusavorich and the Catholic church of Surp Khach. Map 5. A map of the center of Kayseri and the location of Surp Astvadzadzin Church Fig.1 Surp Sarkis Church in 1910 Fig.2 Surp Asdvadzadzin Church until recently used as a sport center and currently under restoration Fig.3 The main entrance of Surp Asdvadzadzin church Fig.4 The western façade of Surp Asdvadzadzin church Fig.5 Surp Krikor Lusavorich in 1930’s Fig.6 Surp Krikor Lusavorich Church in its current condition Fig. 7 The entrance façade presents partially collapsed walls Map 6. Churches and Monasteries in the kaza of Kayseri and in the kaza of Develi Table 5. Armenian Churches of Kayseri and surrounding villages. In the table are listed the churches present in Kayseri and surrounding villages and towns ix Map 7. Location of Surp Toros Church in the village of Tavlusun Fig.8 Tavlusun Surp Toros Church current condition Fig.9 Efkere Surp Stepanos Church in 1913 the dome and the bell tower Fig.10 Efkere Surp Stepanos Church current condition with the complete destruction of its dome and bell tower Fig.11 The absent dome of Surp Stepanos church Map 8. Germir and the location of Surp Stepanos Church Fig.12 Germir Surp Stepanos Church (early 1900s) Fig.13 Germir Surp Toros Church current condition Fig. 14 A section of Germir Surp Toros Church utilized as habition Fig.15 Germir Surp Toros church courtyard currently part of the habitation Fig.16 Tomarza Surp Boghos Bedros Church current condition Fig.17 Everek Surp Toros converted in Fatih Mosque Fig.18 Fenese Surp Toros Church Fig.19 One of the entrances of Fenese Surp Toros church Fig. 20 The interior of Surp Toros in Fenese currently used as barn Fig.21 Photograph of the building identified as an Armenian church in Talas Fig.22 Talas Surp Toros Church Fig.23 Talas Surp Toros Church in early 1900s Fig.24 Talas Surp Asdvadzadzin Fig.25 Talas Surp Asdvadzadzin Church Table 8. List of monasteries in the surroundings of Kayseri

Load more