Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Seminář dějin umění Katarína Kravčíková The Church of Hagia Eirene in Constantinople Chrám Hagia Eirene v Konstantinopoli Bakalářská diplomová práce Vedoucí práce: doc. Ivan Foletti, MA 2016 1 Prehlasujem, že som diplomovú prácu vypracovala samostatne s využitím uvedených prameňov a literatúry. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 2 In this point, I would like to express how much indebted I am to my beloved family, friends and colleagues for their help and care. Without you, this work would not have been possible. I owe the great debt of gratitude to Veronika and Filip for their charm and readiness; to Adrien and Martin for their attentive suggestions, advice and time; to Poma and Michal for their loving support, patience and discussions and to Emrecan for the invaluable photographs and jokes. I am also very grateful to Kateřina, Matej and Zuzana for their keenness and careful corrections. I would like to thank to head of the Department Ondřej Jakubec, for his patience and goodwill to give me as much time as I needed. And finally, I would like to express my humble and sincere gratitude to Ivan Foletti. First, as to the supervisor of this thesis for his counsel and guidance, but above all, for providing me with an incredible amount of support, care and nicknames ever since we first met. Thank you. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. State of Research ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 THE FIRST MODERN STUDIES............................................................................................................................... 6 THE 20th CENTURY ................................................................................................................................................. 8 SPREADING THE INTEREST .................................................................................................................................. 11 THE GOLDEN SIXTIES ........................................................................................................................................... 14 NEW MILLENIUM, NEW QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................. 17 II. Description of the Matter and Chronology .................................................................................................... 19 1. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND EIRENE THE OLDEST ........................................................................... 20 2. JUSTINIAN THE GREAT AND EIRENE THE RESSURECTED ...................................................................... 22 I. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................. 22 II. THROUGH THE ATRIUM TO THE NARTHEX .......................................................................................... 24 III. THROUGH THE NARTHEX TO THE NAOS .............................................................................................. 25 IV. A POSSIBLE ELEVATION ............................................................................................................................ 26 V. FURNISHING AND DECORATION ............................................................................................................... 27 3. CONSTANTINE V AND EIRENE THE RENEWED .......................................................................................... 32 I. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................. 32 II. THE RECONCILIATION OF THE 6th AND 8th CENTURIES ...................................................................... 32 III. Word and Image ................................................................................................................................................. 44 IV. Light and Presence ..............................................................................................................................................47 THE PRESENCE ...................................................................................................................................................... 48 THE ABSENCE ........................................................................................................................................................ 50 V. Ecclesia and Peace .................................................................................................................................................54 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................................... 57 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................. 58 List of Illustrations.....................................................................................................................................................67 4 Introduction The church of Hagia Eirene, or Aya İrini as called today in Turkish, stands on the same court of Topkapı Palace as Hagia Sophia, only 120 meters to the north-east. With its origin preceding the official foundation and consecration of the Constantinople itself, Hagia Eirene embodies the fascinating example of an uninterrupted tradition of the sacred place. Naturally, as we are going to observe closely, the building is not preserved neither intact, nor in its original form – what we can see today is from a chronological point of view a multi–layered structure not having any corporeal connection with the very first. However, the real value of Hagia Eirene is not rooted solely in the historicity of the place or material itself – we are dealing with an object which provided a place for crucial historical events, became a model for various churches outside Constantinople, and kept its importance and liturgical function even though splendid Hagia Sophia was built just around the corner. Moreover, its plain interior crowned by the simple cross on the golden mosaic background became a hallmark of the “iconoclastic” era and its approach to religious imagery. The aim of this thesis will be twofold. On one hand, in the introductory part, we would like to offer a synthesis of the previous research, including the remarks to now completely vanished complex of buildings amidst Hagia Eirene and Hagia Sophia. From this sphere of textual evidence alluding to the matter, we will proceed towards the object itself and scrutinize its materiality and chronology. A division of this part into the three chapters according to three benefactors of this church, that is to say Constantine the Great, Justinian I and Constantine V, we have found as a most plausible solution. Within this analysis, apart the description of the architecture, we have decided to deal in a greater extent with a rather marginalized representatives of the former interior decoration, specifically, the capitals of the arcade and remnants of the former fresco decoration. However, what we consider as the essential aspect of the interior and what is going to be stressed the most, is the unique synthronon in the apse. This object and his unusual materiality will lead our attention to the second part of the thesis, which will constitute of three proposed interpretations of the possible rhetoric of this sacred place. The synthronon itself and its capacities will become one of the essential arguments and focal points for the iconography we would like to put forward. 5 I. State of Research THE FIRST MODERN STUDIES If one would like to identify an academic junction amid historical sources referring to the church of Hagia Eirene and the modern historiography after the Fall of Constantinople, the year 1552 could be considered an appropriate starting point. In this year, the fifth century Descriptio Urbis Constantinopolitanae was published as a part of the Notitia1 and informs us in a very concise form about the existence of “Ecclesia Antiqua” along with “Ecclesia Magna” in the Regio II of the capital.2 More than a hundred years later, in 1680, the extensive volume Constantinopolis christiana by French philologist and historian Charles Du Fresne Du Cange was published. Within, under the number XX., in chapter 7 of the 4th book, we can find merely a page dedicated to Hagia Eirene. The author offers us an austere but complete list of direct historical references, several given in full original form together with their Latin transcription.3 After these two rather isolated summaries, we have almost no other mentions until the 19th century. Thus, if we proceed directly to that time, the amount of new textual references will undoubtedly increase. Still, from the 1st half of the century, there is less to deal with – descriptions of Constantinople written by Byzantios,4 Dallaway5 or Konstantinias6 all mention Hagia Eirene but we learn more about the war artefacts and trophies preserved inside than about the building itself. Anyhow, in the case of Dallaway’s Constantinople ancienne et modern, even in just a few lines, the author manages to give us a rather cryptic notion about marble and mosaic decoration: “…elle est embellie de marbre et de mosaiques”.7 Sadly, one can only guess what the exact meaning