Osmanlı Dönemi Hıristiyan Dini Mimarisinde Ayvalık (Kidonies) Taksiyarhis Kilisesi

Abstract

With the expansion of the religious rights of non-Muslim Ottoman citizens by the reforms of 1839 and 1856, several permissions were given to non-Muslim citizens to repair their religious buildings and also to build new religious structures with the allowance of the sultan. The effect of this permission caused to build many new churches in the 19th century. Ayvalik was one of these placements, which had a population that consisted almost only of Greeks. So, especially through the intense trade activities, local or abroad, Ayvalik became richer and more popular for building new churches. These relations via trade, gave Ayvalik the chance to develop their urban architecture, and because of several interactions with Lesbos Island (Mytilene), Ayvalik particularly modeled the church architecture of Lesvos. On the other hand, with the Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923, non-Muslims who lived in Turkey were forced to leave to Greece, and the Muslims who lived in Greece were forced to leave to Turkey. This implementation caused serious losses mainly for the people, but also several damages for religious buildings.The Ayvalik Taksiyarhis Church of 1844, which constitutes the subject of the study, was also used for various purposes after the intervention; but it is originally accessible today, because it was not converted into a mosque. So, the church was able to reach today as the original both architecturally, as well as the contained icons without distortion. Investigations have shown that the Taksiyarhis Church has been included in a type of plan called Aolian Type, which is suggested to be common in Ayvalik and Mytilene Island, especially in Greek publications. The Aolian plan type is also introduced through the Taksiyarhis Church within this study. During the restoration made by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2011-2012, a stylistic variety on icons have been reached with the understanding that the icons have been applied to other icons left from a previous period, and both the Cretan School and the western type, especially Mannerist and Baroque, have been achieved on the icons of Taksiyarhis Church. On the other hand, although the construction of churches was allowed in the Ottoman period through the reform decrees of Tanzimat in the 19th century, it was seen that in various states of the empire many churches were built before Tanzimat, especially on the Island of Lesbos. This issue was considered as a separate discussion within the study.