Hagia Sophia, Trabzon

Hagia Sophia (, meaning 'the Holy Wisdom'; ) is a formerly Greek Orthodox church that was converted into a mosque following the conquest of Trabzon by Mehmed II in 1461. It is located in Trabzon, northeastern Turkey. It was converted into a museum in 1964 and back into a mosque in 2013. The building dates back to the thirteenth century, when Trabzon was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond. It is located near the seashore and two miles west of the medieval town's limits. It is one of a few dozen Byzantine sites extant in the area and has been described as being "one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture".

History

Hagia Sophia was built in Trebizond during the reign of Manuel I between 1238 and 1263. The oldest graffiti carved in the apses of the church contain the dates 1291 and 1293. After Mehmed II conquered the city in 1461, the church was possibly converted into a mosque and its frescos covered in whitewash. Other scholars suggest it was not converted until 1584, being spared the initial transformation because it stood several kilometers outside the city walls. The adjacent monastery continued to be used by monks as late as 1701, when Tournefort found them still in residence. It is likely that the monks gradually abandoned a building that failed to protect them from harassment and predation, and the Turks assumed its use without needing to expel them.

thumb|Rendering of a Fresco in the apse of the Hagia Sophia in Trebizond (Trabzon, Turkey), 1864.

According to local tradition, at the turn of the 19th century the site was used as a cholera hospital. During World War I the city was occupied by the Russian military and for the first time the church could be examined by archaeologists, including Fyodor Uspensky, and some preliminary cleaning of the wall paintings began. In the 1940s it was reported to be locked and used as a store, but by the 1950s it was again in use as a mosque. In 1964, when it was turned into a museum. All that did survive, however, are thought to be original works done just after its construction, and are considered part of the Byzantine Palaiologan Renaissance.

thumb|A view of the Hagia Sophia of Trabzon (today a mosque) with its bell tower and the [[Black Sea coast in the background]]

thumb|Bell tower

The Hagia Sophia church is an important example of late Byzantine architecture, being characterised by a high central dome and four large column arches supporting the weight of the dome and ceiling. Below the dome is an Opus sectile pavement of multicolored stones. The church was built with a cross-in-square plan, but with an exterior form that takes the shape of a cross thanks to prominent north and south porches. The structure is 22 metres long, 11.6 metres wide and 12.7 metres tall. The late 13th-century frescos, revealed during the University of Edinburgh restoration, illustrate New Testament themes. External stone figurative reliefs and other ornamenting is in keeping with local traditions found in Armenia and Georgia. 24 metres to the west of the church is a tall bell tower, 40 metres high. It was built in 1427 and houses a small chapel on its second floor. The internal walls of the bell tower are covered in frescoes. It was also used as an observatory by local astronomers.

Mosque conversion

In 2012, the religious authorities (Diyanet) filed a lawsuit against the ministry of culture, claiming the ministry had been 'illegally occupying' the church for some decades. The Diyanet won the case and received the ownership of the building. On 5 July 2013, the former church was partially converted for a while into a mosque according to the local Vakif Direction of Trabzon, which is the owner of the estate. The reconstruction works were started, in which some frescoes were veiled and the floor covered by a carpet. The mufti of the Turkish province Trabzon said that “the works for opening the Hagia Sophia mosque in the city to practice prayers again are going on,” and claimed that “during the prayer the mural paintings will be covered by curtains". The local union of architects from Trabzon filed a lawsuit against the ministry of religious affairs' conversion plan. A local judge ruled the transformation of the former church to be illegal, and ordered it to be maintained as a museum. However, it has remained a mosque. Between 2013 and 2018 the fresco's and opus sectile floor mosaic in the prayer hall were covered by immovable curtains and carpets, while the frescoes in the narthex remained uncovered. During renovation works from 2018 to 2020 the building was closed to visitors. A report drafted by the local union of architects heavily criticized the 2013 mosque conversion, and a court ordered the ministry of religious affairs to fulfill its promise and make the frescoes visible outside prayer time. In 2020 a retractable suspended ceiling was put in place underneath the dome, and a glass floor was placed over the opus sectile mosaic.

Cultural significance

The church figures prominently and has key significance for the lead character's spiritual development in Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond. "It took me some time to make out the Greek inscription, which was about saving me from my sins, and I hesitated to say this prayer, as I really did not want to be saved from my sins, not for the time being, it would make things too difficult and too sad."

Gallery

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia 4900.jpg|Exterior south side

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Decoration exterior 4887.jpg|Decoration exterior

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Decoration exterior 4889.jpg|Decoration exterior

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Decoration exterior 4891.jpg|Decoration exterior

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Capital 93 093.jpg|Capital

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Exterior 93 087.jpg|Exterior

Image:Hagia Sophia interior.JPG|Interior

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Evangelists' fresco 4777.jpg|Evangelists' fresco most of it

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Evangelists' fresco 4793.jpg|Evangelists' fresco centre

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Evangelists' fresco 4829.jpg|Evangelists' fresco Mark closer up

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Evangelists' fresco 4835.jpg|Evangelists' fresco Matthew

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Evangelists' fresco 4830.jpg|Evangelists' fresco John close up

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Evangelists' fresco 4836.jpg|Evangelists' fresco Luke

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Several scenes 4791.jpg|Several scenes

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Marriage in Kanaa 4806.jpg|Marriage in Kanaa

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Marriage in Cana detail 4819.jpg|Marriage in Kanaa detail

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Christ teaching in the temple 4812b.jpg|Christ teaching in the temple

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Christ teaching in the temple 4811.jpg|Christ teaching in the temple detail

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Feeding of the thousands 4797.jpg|Feeding of the thousands

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Feeding of the thousands 4801b.jpg|Feeding of the thousands detail

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Feeding of the thousands detail 4837.jpg|Feeding of the thousands detail

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Feeding of the thousands detail 4841.jpg|Feeding of the thousands detail

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Healing of a man born blind 4813.jpg|Healing of the blind man at the pool of Siloam

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Marriage in Cana 4821.jpg|Unidentified fresco

File:Fresco of Marriage in Cana in Hagia Sophia, Trabzon 4823.jpg|Unidentified scene

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Marriage in Cana 4838.jpg|Unidentified scene

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Mary and Christ 4883.jpg|Mary and Christ

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Ascension of Christ 4871.jpg|Mary and Christ detail with Christ

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Interior 93 067.jpg|Interior

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Resurrection 4857.jpg|Descent into hell (Resurrection of Christ)

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Baptism of Christ 93 068.jpg|Baptism of Christ

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Baptism of Christ 4859.jpg|Baptism of Christ

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Interior 4881.jpg|Interior

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Last supper 4869.jpg|Last supper

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Unidentified scene 4866b.jpg|Unidentified scene

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Unidentified scene 4867.jpg|St. Bartholomew

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Unidentified scene 4877.jpg|Unidentified scene

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia Jesus at Sea of Galilee 4879.jpg|Unidentified scene

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia part of the nativity scene 4861.jpg|Unidentified scene

File:Trabzon Hagia Sophia John the baptist and Holy spirit 4814.jpg|Baptism of Christ

Image:Dome frescoes, Hagia Sophia, Trabzon.JPG|Dome frescoes

Image:Floor of Hagia Sophia, Trabzon.JPG|Floor in 2008

Image:Hagia Sophia Floor Tiles, Trebizond.jpg|Reconstruction of the Opus Sectile floor tiling as drawn by Charles Texier in 1864. What remains was covered with a carpet in 2013.

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Notes

External links

Hagia Sophia of Trabzon/Trebizond
The Church of Hagia Sophia, Trabzon
Photos of the Hagia Sophia in Trabzon
<small>The Church of Hagia Sophia at Trapezounta, Pontos by Dr Constantine Hionides</small>