Vefa Kilise Camii

Name of structure: Vefa Kilise Camii
Extended name of structure: Molla Gürânî Camii
Kilisee Mesjedi
Type of structure: Church
Country or main area: Turkey
Region within country or main area: Marmara
City or area within region: Constantinople
Date of structure: 11C? beg 12C?
Century of structure 1: 11 AD
Century of structure 2: 12 AD
Specific place of mosaic:

Central and south domes in exonarthex.


 
Brief descriptive contents of mosaic:

South dome: Virgin and Christ child in centre, 8 Kings of Judah in flutes.
Central dome: rainbow border of central medallion, remains of 6 prophets between dome windows.
All the mosaics were whitewashed before 1990s.


 
Date of mosaic: Around 1300 (Grape, 1974; Belting, 1978); around 1320 (Ousterhout in Ousterhout, R. G., The Architecture of Kariye Camii in Istanbul (Washington DC, 1987), 94.
Century of mosaic 1: 14 AD
Century of mosaic 2:
Silver tessera at site: Unknown
Gold tessera at site: Yes
Colour tessera at site: Yes
Were other materials found at site (i.e., glass cakes)? Unknown
Has analysis been done? No
Samples taken from where? n/a
Excavation and restoration campaigns:

1937: team led by M.I. Nomidis which cleaned and exposed the mosaics on the domes of the exonarthex.
South dome cleaned in 1937 under the direction of the Ministry of Mosques
Bibliography of mainly technical resources:

Mango, C., 'The work of M. I. Nomidis in the Vefa Kilise Camii, Istanbul (1937-38)', in Mango, C., Studies on Constantinople (Aldershot: Ashgate, Variorum Reprints, 1993), ch. XXII, 421-9.


Mango, C. 'Le developpement urbain de Constantinople (IVe–VIIe siècles)', Travaux et Memoires, Monographies 2, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1990).


Belting, H., Mango, C. &  Mouriki, D., The Mosaics and Frescoes of St Mary Pammakaristos (Fethiye Camii) at Istanbul (Washinton DC, 1978).


Hallensleben, H., 'Zu Annexbauten der Kilise camii in Istanbul', Istanbuler Mitteilungen (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Istanbul) 15 (1965), 208–17.


Mamboury, E., 'Les fouilles byzantines à Istanbul', Byzantion 13 (1938), 307-8 and Byzantion 21 (1951), 427-8.


 



 
URLs:
Comments:

Original Byzantine identity not certain. See Mango (1993) for suggestions.

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