Our next visit was to the church of the Theotokos Pammakaristos (Church of the Joyous Mother of God). I have a special interest in this church because I wrote a paper about the parekklesion (side chapel) which has fantastic mosaics preserved inside. However, my interest focused on exterior facade of the parekklesion. There are corbels on this building too, which may be evidence that the exterior facade of the church delimited a space for some kind of activity (perhaps a ritual related to the burials inside the parekklesion?) outside the church. What was the function of the space defined by the canopies or banners supported by these corbels? I’m not sure. There is a very long inscription that runs along the string course (just above the lowest level of arches) and some other funky inscriptions higher up on the third level of windows and niches. Funerary? Festivals? Not sure and there just isn’t a lot of other evidence to draw from. (source)
As Betsy mentions later in her blog, I'll be thinking (and writing) more about the modern Christian church in Turkey at a later point. These folks are putting up with a lot of discrimination and hardship and it's not hard to see history repeating itself viz. the patristic era and today.
Also missing from her blog entry was a mention of the delicious snack we had after looking at architecture: some of the best pistachio baklava I've ever had topped with (what else) pistachio ice-cream. Istanbul is famous for it's baklava, which is a great carbo-tweak after a day of walking around the city.
-t
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