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    Published by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

    Distributed by Harvard University Press,

    Dumbarton Oaks Papers Number Sixty,

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    Te Church of Hagia Sophia in Bizye (Vize): Resultsof the Fieldwork Seasons and

    Franz Alto Bauer and Holger A. Klein

    on the southwestern slopes ofthe Stranda mountains (Yldz Dalar), the ancient city of Bizye(modern Vize) is well known not only as a place of exile during

    the early Byzantine period, but also as the home and cult center of St.Mary the Younger, a pious woman of Armenian origin who died therein and was subsequently buried in the citys cathedral. Relying onan inscription recorded by Georgios Lampousiades, the regions super-intendent of antiquities during the Greek occupation of Trace from to , Cyril Mango was the first to suggest that the Byzantinechurch still standing on the acropolis of Vize, now known as Ayasofyaor Sleyman Paa Camii, should be identified as Bizyes Byzantine

    cathedral and location of the saints first tomb as mentioned in herLife.Citing similar cross-domed churches such as Dereaz in Lycia, Mangoconcluded that the former church of Hagia Sophia at Vize may well

    pertain to the period of Byzantine expansion in the Balkans in the lateeighth and ninth centuries, a period that isvery poorly representedin terms of architectural monuments, but which ay also have pro-duced St. Sophia at Salonica. While the buildings imposing size ofcirca twenty-five by twelve meters seems to support Mangos hagio-graphical arguments for identifying the church as the citys Byzantinecathedral, his dating of the structure to the eighth or ninth century has

    not remained unchallenged. When Semavi Eyice published the resultsof his survey of Byzantine monuments in Eastern Trace, he compared

    For inormation on the history o the

    city, see E . Oberhummer, Bizye,RE .

    (): ; A. T. Samothrakis,

    , nd

    ed. (Athens, ), bb; and ODB

    :. Additional inormation has

    been provided by V. Velkov, Die thrakische

    Stadt Bizye, in Studia in honorem Veselini

    Beevliev(Sofia, ), ; J. Jurukova,

    Griechisches Mnzwerk: Die Mnzprgung

    on Bizye, Schrifen zur Geschichte undKultur der Antike (Berlin, ), .

    For a summary account, see F. A. Bauer

    and H. A. Klein, Die Hagia Sophia in Vize:

    Forschungsgeschichte Restaurierungen

    Neue Ergebnisse,Millennium ():

    , esp. . On the church o

    Hagia Sophia, see most recently idem,

    Die Hagia Sophia (Sleyman Paa Camii)

    in Vize: Bericht ber die Arbeiten im Jahr

    , . Aratrma Sonular oplants

    (Ankara, ), : and Vizede

    Ayasoya (Sleyman Paa Camii): Yl

    almalar Raporu, . Aratrma Sonular

    oplants(Ankara, ), :.

    For early reerences to the city as

    a place o exile, see Socrates Scholasticus,

    Kirchengeschichte, ed. G. C. Hansen, GCS,

    n.s., (Berlin, ), ; Sozomenus,

    Kirchengeschichte, ed. J. Bidez and G. C.Hansen, GCS, n.s., (Berlin, ), .

    For Maximos the Conessors exile in Bizye,

    see Scripta saeculi VII vitam Maximi

    Conessoris illustrantia, ed. P. Allen and

    B. Neil, CC SG (urnhout, ), .

    See also P. Allen and B. Neil,Maximus the

    Conessor and His Companions: Documents

    fom Exile(Oxord, ), .

    For theLieo St. Mary the Younger,

    seeBHG,AASS Noembris, (Brussels,

    ), , as well as the English

    translation with introduction by A. Laiou

    inHoly Women o Byzantium: en Saints

    Lives in English ranslation, ed. A.-M.

    albot, Byzantine Saints Lives in English

    ranslation ( Washington, DC, ),

    , with urther bibliographical reerences.

    For the presumed date o Marys death, see

    . Pratsch, Das odesdatum der Maria (derJngeren) von Bizye (BHG): . Februar

    ,BZ (): .

    Te Byzantine Church at Vize (Bizye)

    in Trace and St . Mary the Younger, ZRVI

    (): .

    Ibid., .

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    .

    the architecture of Ayasofya to that of the domed basilicas of Artaand Mistras and concluded that it likewise must have been built in thethirteenth or fourteenth century. Since the publication of Mangosand Eyices studies, scholars have remained divided over the questionof dating the church. While Eyices typological arguments have been

    accepted by Nazan Yavuzolu and James Morganstern, other schol-ars like Yldz tken, Robert Ousterhout, and Vincenzo Ruggierihave followed Mangos lead and argued for a late eighth- or earlyninth-century date of the church. A more recent study by AyeglKahramankaptan and zkan Erturul even argued for two distinctbuilding phases: one in the tenth century, still visible in the basilicanstructure of the ground floor, and another in the thirteenth or four-teenth century, in which the galleries and the dome were added.

    Te apparent difficulties in establishing even an approximate datefor the construction of the church at Vize indicate not only the restric-tions of comparative architectural analysis but also the limits of our

    knowledge and understanding of the buildings physical makeup. Sincethe structure has suffered dramatically from decades of neglect, van-dalism, and a recent, heavy-handed restoration conducted under thesupervision of the Edirne Vakflar Blge Mdrl, a joint archaeo-logical survey project has been established by the authors of this reportto examine thoroughly the buildings fabric and to document compre-hensively the various architectural spolia scattered around the site. Tefirst fieldwork campaign at Vize, carried out during July and August of, aimed at providing accurate plans for the ground and gallery levelsof the church as well as detailed longitudinal and transverse sections.

    In addition, a catalogue of architectural spoliasome incorporated inthe fabric of the present structure, some scattered inside and outsidethe buildingwas compiled, fragments measured, photographed, and

    rakyada Bizans devrine ait eserler,

    Belleten (): , esp. .

    Eyice repeated his arguments in two later

    articles: Les monuments byzantins de la

    Trace turque, CorsiRav (): ,

    esp. , and Ayasoyalar,Ayasoya

    Mzesi Yll (): , esp. ,

    with an English translation at : Te

    other Ayasoyas.

    Yavuzolu, Vizedeki Bizans eserleri(MA diss., stanbul niversitesi, ),

    ; Morganstern, Te Byzantine Church

    at Dereaz and its Decoration, Istanbuler

    Mitteilungen, Beihef ( bingen, ),

    n. ; Mango,Byzantine Architecture

    (Milan, ); tken and Ousterhout,

    Notes on the Monuments o urkish Trace,

    AnatSt (): , esp. ; Ruggieri,

    Byzantine Religious Architecture ():

    Its History and Structural Elements, OCA

    (Rome, ), ; V. Ruggieri,Larchitettura

    religiosa nellImpero Bizantino (fine VIIX

    secolo) (Messina, ), . A somewhat

    more cautious position is taken by H.

    Buchwald, Lascarid Architecture,JB

    (): , esp. n. , who nonethe-

    less avors an early date. Vizeden tarih kryor,Mozaik

    (): , esp. and .

    Feridun Dirimtekin was the first to

    provide a rough ground plan and an eleva-

    tion drawing (north aade) or the church.

    See F. Dirimtekin, Vizedeki Ayasoya

    Kilisesi (Sleyman Paa),Ayasoya Mzesi

    Yll (): , pl. , with an English

    translation at : Church o St.-Sophia

    (Sleyman Paa) at Vize. A somewhat

    more accurate plan or the ground floor

    and gallery level o the church was provided

    by Semavi Eyice in : rakya, res.

    and , repr. in his Monuments, fig. , and

    Ayasoyalar, res. .

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    ():

    drawn for publication. Te second season of fieldwork at Vize, sup-ported by a Dumbarton Oaks project grant, was conducted duringJune and July of and resulted in a photogrammetric evaluationof the buildings exterior faades as well as a preliminary examinationof the remains of an earlier ecclesiastical structure.

    History and State of PreservationTe Byzantine church commonly known as Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia)or Sleyman Paa Camii is situated within the confines of the fortifica-tion walls on the southwestern slopes of the acropolis of Bizye (fig. ).Both its size and commanding presence overlooking the Tracian plainseem to indicate that it was once the citys principal place of worship,

    presumably Bizyes cathedral. Unfortunately, little is known aboutthe early history of Bizyes Christian community and their cathedral.

    See photographs below, esp. figs. .

    Te sites architectural spolia have previouslybeen mentioned only in passing. See most

    recently tken and Ousterhout, Notes,

    . Responsible or the cataloguing o archi-

    tectural spolia during the fieldwork

    campaign were Roberta Casagrande, MA

    (Columbia University, New York) and Dr.

    Kirstin Noreen (Louisiana State University,

    Baton Rouge).

    Te remains were partly uncovered on

    the south, north, and east sides o the presentbuilding during t he Vakflar restoration.

    Te brick oundations o a large semicircular

    apse to the east were first described by

    tken and Ousterhout, who identified it as

    the eastern end o an early Christian church

    and suggested that the present building was

    constructed on the site o its predecessor.

    See tken and Ousterhout, Notes, .

    On the ortifications o Vize, see Eyice,

    rakya, , and Monuments, . See Mango, Byzantine Church,

    (n. above); Eyice, rakya, , and

    Monuments, ; tken and Ousterhout,

    Notes, .

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, exterior rom

    west, (this and all unattributed photos

    by the authors)

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    SS. Severos and Memnon are said to have suffered martyrdom in thecity along with their companions, but it remains uncertain when thefirst Christian church was established there. Known as a place of exilealready under emperor Valens, Bizye has been an episcopal see sinceat least . However, the date of the cathedrals dedication during

    the Byzantine period remains unknown. Te Life of Saint Mary theYoungersimply refers to it as , and while the build-ings modern urkish name Ayasofya Camii may well preserve thememory of a previous Byzantine dedication, the present association

    with Holy Wisdom cannot be traced back further than the nineteenthcentury. Te other Ottoman name associated with the building,Sleyman Paa Camii, may hint at an early conversion into a mosque,since a Sleyman Paa, son of Orhan Gazi and brother of Sultan MuradI (), is known to have led the Ottoman conquest of EasternTrace. But if the mosque was indeed named aer him, it must havebeen dedicated to his memory, as he died in , well before the cap-

    ture of Bizye. Another possibility is that the mosque was named aerHadm Sleyman Paa, the governor of Rumeli who died in and isknown for his founding of mosques in Edirne and Ferecik. Te mostlikely candidate to have converted the Byzantine church of Bizye into amosque, however, might be yet another Sleyman Paa, namely a grand-son of Gazi Mihal, who died around . But given the lack of more

    precise historical information, the identity of the mosques founderand precise date of its conversion may never be known. Nevertheless,a short reference in the Seyhatnmeof Evliy elebi, who visited Vizein , may indicate that the church was adapted to Muslim worship

    soon aer the capture of Bizye under Mehmet the Conqueror in .While there are no written documents that would help to elucidate the

    H. Delehaye, Saints de Trace et de

    Msie,AB (): , esp. .

    Notitiae episcopatuum ecclesiae

    Constantinopolitanae , ed. J. Darrouzs (Paris,

    ), .; .; .; .; .; .; .;

    .; .; .; .; .; .; ..

    For the bishops o Bizye, see R . Janin, Bizya,

    inDictionnaire dhistoire et de gographie

    ecclsiastiques(Paris, ), :.

    BHG,AASS Noembris,

    (Brussels, ), , ; albot,HolyWomen, , (n. above). S. Ioannidis,

    ,

    (Athens,

    ), (written in ). See also N.

    Bapheidis,

    , ser. , ():

    , at .

    Eyice, Ayasoyalar, [].

    Bizye was first captured by the

    Ottomans in but later returned to

    Byzantine rule (probably in ). It was

    once again captured by the Ottomans in

    . On the history o the conquest, see

    F. Babinger,Beitrge zur Frhgeschichte

    der rkenherrscha in Rumelien(Brnn

    MunichVienna, ), and ; M. .

    Gkbilgin,XVXVI asrlarda Edirne ve Paa

    livas(Istanbul, ), ; A. Bakalopulos,

    Les limites de l empire byzantin depuisla fin du XVe sicle jusqu sa chute (),

    BZ (): , esp. ; Mango,

    Byzantine Church, with n. (n. above).

    On the transer o the metropolitan see to

    Mesembria, see F. Miklosich and I. Mller,

    Acta et diplomata Graeca medii aevi, vol. ,

    Acta patriarchatus Constantinopolitani

    (Vienna, ), .

    See Eyice, Ayasoyalar, [].

    Hadm Sleyman Paas oundation o

    the mosque at Ferecik has been called

    into question by E. H. Ayverdi, Osmanl

    Mimarsinin ilk Devri (Istanbul, ), .

    Tis identification is first given by

    G. Lampousiades, , Trakika

    (): and has been accepted by

    Dirimtekin, Church o St. Sophia,

    (n. above); Ayverdi, Osmanl Mimarsinin,

    ; Mango, Byzantine Church, ; Eyice,Ayasoyalar, [].

    On the identification o Sleyman

    Paa, see Mango, Byzantine Church, ;

    and Eyice, rakya, , and, Ayasoyalar,

    [] (both n. above).

    Ed. Z. Danman (Istanbul, ),

    :.

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    ():

    history of structural modifications and restorations in Ottoman times,the building seems to have served as the citys principal mosque wellinto the twentieth century. Its decline started only around , whenits minaret was destroyed by Bulgarian troops during the First Balkan

    War. In the decades that followed, the mosque seems to have slowly

    fallen into disrepair, since the Vakflar Blge Mdrl considered itsrestoration already in /. Te plan, however, was never carriedout. About a decade later, the mosque ceased to function as a house of

    worship for the community of Vize (fig. ).Judging from photos taken by scholars during the s and s,

    the profanation of the mosque led to the buildings accelerated dete-rioration, which came to a halt only in , when the Edirne VakflarBlge Mdrl finally authorized the long-planned restorationof the mosque. While well intentioned, this restoration campaign

    Te minaret can still be seen in the

    earliest published photographs o theAyasoya rom and . See A. K. P.

    Stamoules,

    ,

    , ser. (Athens, ), :, fig. ;

    Lampousiades, , ; R . M.

    Dawkins, Te Modern Carnival in Trace

    and the Cult o Dionysus,JHS (),

    , fig. . It is no longer visible in the

    photograph published in by K. H.

    korpil, Arkheologicheski bieliezhki otStrandzha-planina,Izvestija na Blgarskoto

    Archeologiesko Druestvo (/): ,

    fig. .

    Eyice, Ayasoyalar, [].

    Eyice (ibid.) relates that in

    the imam made his call or prayer standing

    on a mound outside the church and then

    perormed his prayers alone or lack o

    a congregation.

    Documents and receipts pertainingto the restoration campaign are housed

    in the archives o the Edirne Vakflar Blge

    Mdrl.

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, exterior rom

    southwest, ca. (photo: C. Mango)

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    resulted in some unfortunate interventions and led to the destructionof valuable archaeological evidence inside and outside of the church.Due to financial difficulties and complaints from the Vize Belediyesi,work was eventually abandoned in and the restoration of thebuilding was le partly unfinished. As far as can be ascertained

    from what is visible today (fig. ), the restoration work that was car-ried out under the supervision of Erol etin of the stanbul VakflarBlge Mdrl followed three main objectives: () the removal ofearth that had washed down from the hill of the acropolis for cen-turies and had built up around the church to a maximum height ofover ten meters at its eastern end (fig. ); () the restoration of thebuildings original appearance on the exterior, which involved theopening of three tympanum windows on the north and south faadesto their (presumably) original size, as well as the repair and pointing

    Tere is no official written or photo-

    graphic documentation o this campaign.Te only inormation that exists concerning

    the Vakflar restoration is a letter dated

    August , o the restorer-architect Erol

    etin, cited by tken and Ousterhout,

    Notes, (n. above), as well as letters

    and receipts kept in the archives o the

    Edirne Vakflar Blge Mdrl.

    Photographs taken prior to the Vakflar

    restoration show the extent o earth accumu-

    lation, especially on the buildings southand east aade. See Mango, Byzantine

    Church, figs. and . Te removal o earth

    was accompanied by the building o large

    retaining walls on the north, south, and east

    sides o the church. Te excavated material

    was moved to the area west o the church,

    where it was piled up to create large mounds.

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, exterior rom

    east, (photo: R. Rosenbauer)

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    ():

    up of joints between brick courses and stones on the buildings north,south, and east faades; () the restoration of the buildings originalappearance on the interior, which involved the removal of the raisedOttoman marble and opus sectile floor as well as the replastering ofmuch of the unpainted wall surfaces, corner piers, and tympanum

    arches over the south and north galleries (figs. ).While the Vakflar restoration succeeded in slowing the deteriora-tion on much of the buildings exterior faades, the abandonment ofthe project le the narthex open to the elements, thus heightening thedanger of its collapse. Even more regrettable than the discontinua-

    Prior to the Vakflar restoration the

    size o the windows was much reduced,

    as can be seen in a photograph published

    by Cyril Mango; ibid., fig. , and Mango,

    Byzantine Architecture, fig. (n. above).

    Te decision to point up the joints between

    brick layers and stones seems to have beenguided by the discovery o original fill in

    the lower portions o the walls, since the

    restoration work mimics the original tech-

    nique. races o the original fill can best

    be seen in the lower areas o the north and

    east aades.

    Beore the Vakflar restoration the

    nave and side aisles o the church were paved

    with white marble and raised to a slightly

    higher level than the narthex, which was also

    paved with marble. Reused ragments o a

    Byzantine opus sectile floor were ound

    incorporated into the marble floor both in

    the nave and in the narthex. For a descrip-

    tion o the floor prior to its removal, seeDirimtekin, Church o St. Sophia,

    (n. above), and Mango, Byzantine Church,

    , who assumes that the marble floor was

    raised during the Ottoman period. Drawings

    o the specimen o opus sectile ragments

    ound in Ayasoya have been published in

    Eyice, rakya, res. (n. above). When

    the restoration campaign was halted in ,

    the marble floor panels were lef dispersed

    in ront o the church.

    It is unknown i the nineteenth-

    century wooden muezzins gallery on the

    second floor o the narthex was removed

    during the Vakflar restoration or i it

    had collapsed earlier. Photographs takenin the late s show it dilapidated yet

    still largely intact. See Mango, Byzantine

    Church, fig. ; Eyice, rakya, res. .

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, exterior rom

    east, ca. (photo: C. Mango)

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    tion of the project, however, is the loss of valuable archaeological infor-mation from the undocumented removal of earth outside and excava-tions below the original Byzantine floor level inside the church. Onthe exterior, for instance, numerous sculptural fragments of liturgical

    furnishings seem to have been uncovered during the restoration cam-paign. Some more lavishly decorated fragments were subsequentlybrought to the archaeological museums in Edirne and ekirda, wherethey were rediscovered during the summer of ; the rest remainedscattered in front of the buildings western faade. Tey were prob-ably taken into the narthex and piled up between the minaret andthe blocked southern entrance into the narthex in , followingan architectural survey and cleaning campaign conducted by zkanErturul of rakya niversitesi in Edirne. While the exact findspotsas well as the circumstances that led to the discovery of these spoliaremain unknown, other archaeological discoveries are more clearly

    attributable to the Vakflar restoration, the most significant being the

    Since they are not recorded by

    Dirimtekin, Mango, and Eyice, it must be

    assumed that these architectural ragments

    were uncovered during the Vakflar restora-

    tion. Tey are first, but only briefly, men-

    tioned by tken and Ousterhout, Notes,

    (n. above).

    Te ragments in Edirne were identi-

    fied on the basis o photographs ound in

    the archives o the Edirne Kurul; those

    in ekirda, by the director o the museum

    during a routine visit in June .

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, interior toward

    east, (photo: R. Rosenbauer)

    wo ragments o a parapet slab

    eaturing a carved cross were first published

    in Kahramankaptan and Erturul, Vize,

    (n. above).

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    uncovering of the brick foundations of a semicircular apse and theremains of walls extending to the north, south, and west, which pre-sumably relate to a previous ecclesiastical structure on the site. Tesemicircular apse and the walls extending to the north and south have

    been le essentially intact, but they remain exposed to the elements.Te walls extending to the west, on the other hand, have been reused asfoundations for the large retaining walls that now flank the buildingsnorth and south faades.

    In the interior, the undocumented removal of the marble and opussectile floor in the nave and narthex and its replacement with a con-crete floor may be considered even more devastating, since it destroyednot only a privileged burial in front of an arcosolium in the third bayof the south side aisle, but also ten to fieen other burials in the nar-thex. Te loss of the narthex tombs, which were first mentioned bySavvas Ioannides in the late nineteenth century, is particularly regret-

    See tken and Ousterhout, Notes,

    or a brie discussion o these remains.

    Not mentioned by tken and

    Ousterhout, the walls that extend westward

    presumably ormed the oundations o the

    side aisle walls o the previous structure.

    As mentioned above, the only record

    o the work is contained in a letter by the

    restorer-architect Erol etin. According

    to this document, the bodily remains ound

    during the restoration were reburied in ront

    o the building. See tken and Ousterhout,

    Notes, .

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, interior (photo:

    U. Peschlow)

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    table, since they might have contained evidence to date more securelythe Byzantine church. Tis at least is suggested by the discovery ofa lead seal found allegedly on the chest of the body buried in front ofthe arcosolium tomb. Tis seal can be identified by its inscription ashaving belonged to Teodoros Dekapolites, a well-known legal figure

    in tenth-century Constantinople. While Ousterhout has acceptedthe seal as supporting evidence for a ninth-century date of the presentstructure, the lack of any written or photographic documentation ofthe find makes it impossible to verify the archaeological record and tosubstantiate any claims relating to the burial.

    It is likewise regrettable that zkan Erturuls cleaning of thenarthex in seems to have remained equally undocumented.According to his summary account in the popular magazine Mozaik,the removal of earth in the narthex resulted in the temporary exposurenot only of a well-preserved fresco of a figure in prayer but also of the

    very inscription first published by Lampousiades and later interpreted

    by Mango as relating to St. Mary the Younger. Both fresco and inscrip-tion seem to have fallen off the wall shortly aer their discovery andare no longer extant.

    Preliminary Results of the and Fieldwork SeasonsAs this summary account of the history and state of preservation ofthe former church of Hagia Sophia at Vize may indicate, a thoroughdocumentation and analysis of the structure is not only long overdue,as recently remarked by Ousterhout and tken, but has becomea pressing issue aer both the heavy-handed restoration in the early

    s and more recent interventions. Given the presumedand asyet unvalidatedimportance of the structure as a key monument inthe history of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture, the archaeologicalsurvey project that was begun in and continued in set outto document the building in its present state and to recover any infor-mation that might help to elucidate the history of the church and itsdecoration in Byzantine and Ottoman times.

    See Ioannidis, , [= Bapheidis,

    , (both n. above)]; see also

    Mango, Byzantine Church, , n. .

    Te inscription reads: + /

    []/ [] / [] []/(obverse) + /[] /[][] /

    [] /[] (reverse)Teotokos,

    help your servant Teodore, the patrikios

    and quaestor Dekapolites. On Teodore

    Dekapolites, see ODB: with urther

    reerences. On tombs in Byzantine churches

    and their decoration, see most recently

    U. Weibrod, Hier liegt der Knecht Gottes:

    Grber in byzantinischen Kirchen und ihr

    Dekor (. bis . Jahrhundert), Mainzer

    Verffentlichungen zur Byzantinist ik

    (Wiesbaden, ). See tken and Ousterhout,

    Notes, ; R . Ousterhout,Master Builders

    o Byzantium(Princeton, ), , .

    Te whereabouts o the seal are unknown,

    but a photograph o it has been published

    by tken and Ousterhout, Notes, pl.

    XXXIIIa.

    A. Kahramankaptan and .

    Erturul, Vize, . wo resco rag-

    ments allegedly ound in the church during

    a recent restoration campaign by the Vakflar

    (see postscript) may be identified as the onesdescribed by Erturul. Tey are now kept in

    the Krklareli Museum.

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    In addition to conducting a thorough photographic survey ofthe building, the primary goals of the fieldwork season wereto establish a catalogue of surviving spolia on the site and to provideaccurate plans and sections for the church. Te latter was achievedby using the tape-measure system in combination with reflector andreflectorless tachymetry. Te ground and gallery plans that resulted

    from this survey (fig. ) update and correct those published earlier by

    Te data thus collected were verified

    directly on-site with the program CAPLAN

    (version .), developed by Cremer

    Programmentwicklungs-GmbH, Munich

    (www.cpentw.de), urther processed with

    AutoCAD (release ), and finally laid

    out using Adobe Illustrator (version ..).

    Tis work was directed by Ralph C.

    Rosenbauer, MA (Universitt Bern).

    Byzantine Phase I Byzantine Phase II Ottoman Modern

    m

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, ground and

    gallery plan (drawings: R. Rosenbauer)

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    Dirimtekin and Eyice, both of whom surveyed the structure beforethe lower parts of the buildings eastern end were exposed during theVakflar restoration. In addition, longitudinal and transverse sections(figs. ) were provided to complete the archaeological record of theextant structure and to visualize the buildings elevation and overall

    proportions. Where possible, the plans and sections indicate apparentchanges in the buildings structure and identify distinct phases of con-struction and restoration. Te chronology of these phases should be

    considered preliminary and will need to be reassessed when the surveyof the building has been completed. A few general observations on thebuilding, however, are worth pointing out already. Abrupt changes inthe stone- and brickwork of the central dome (fig. ) as well as theblocking of eight of originally sixteen windows on the north side, forinstance, seem to indicate a partial collapse and rebuilding of the six-teen-sided structure in Byzantine or Ottoman times. While it remainsuncertain if the assumed collapse of the dome prompted the reinforce-ment of the four columns or piers that originally carried the weight ofthe dome on the ground level of the naos, the damage to the church

    Dirimtekins groundplan, hardly morethan a sketch, omits a number o important

    details, or instance the north and south

    entrances into the narthex, the base o the

    minaret, both arcosolia tombs in the south

    side aisle, and the small niche in the south

    wall o the diakonikon. Eyices groundplan

    is more accurate, but he, too, omits an

    important detail: the arcosolium in thewesternmost bay o the south aisle. Eyices

    gallery plan also omits a number o details:

    a square and a rounded niche in the eastern

    chapel o the north gallery and the irregular

    shape o the small chapel to the west.

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, transverse

    sections with views to east and west

    (drawings: R. Rosenbauer)

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    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, longitudinal

    section toward south (drawing:

    R. Rosenbauer)

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, dome rom east

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    presumably the result of an earthquakeseems tohave been extensive. Tis at least is suggested byevidence for a complete rebuilding of the northeast-ern gallery chapel and the upper parts of the north-ern half of the central apse, which now lacks two of

    its originally seven windows. On the lower level,the central apse once featured three large windows,which were subsequently blocked, most likely by anincreased accumulation of earth at the eastern endof the church. Small irregularities in the outer skinof the side apses further suggest that these, too, oncefeatured windows on both the ground and gallerylevels. Other changes to the buildings originalfabric are clearly visible on the exterior of the southfaade. At some point in the Byzantine period, anarcosolium tomb was added in the westernmost

    bay of the south side aisle. Unlike the arcosoliumin the third bay of the south aisle, which forms anintegral part of the wall and thus an integral partof the original building, the western arcosolium

    was clearly an aerthought that involved not onlythe partial opening of the south wall but also theaddition of a reinforcement wall on the exterior (fig.). A still-puzzling feature is the blocked archwayand an adjacent wall fragment that protrudes southward at the easternend of the south faade (fig. ). It may be assumed that the archway

    once connected the diakonikon with an adjacent room or chapel to thesouth, but this claim cannot be verified at present.In the interior, the removal of the Ottoman marble floor during

    the Vakflar restoration exposed fragments of the original Byzantinefloor in the sanctuary and the corners of the side chapels (fig. ).Furthermore, a row of greenish marble blocks was uncovered, whichonce defined the limits of the sanctuary (fig. ). races of dowel holes

    A reinorcement o previously existing

    piers or columns has been assumed by Eyice,

    rakya, ; idem, Monuments,

    (both n. above); Mango, Byzantine

    Church, n. . tken and Ousterhout,Notes, suggested a late Byzantine date

    or these reinorcements based on the piers,

    which have a decorative technique that uses

    incised lines to highlight the mortar fills

    between bricks and stones. Y. tken,

    Bizans duvar tekniinde tektonik ve estetik

    zmler,Rleve ve Restorasyon Dergisi

    (), cited as being in press by tken

    and Ousterhout, Notes, n. , was not

    accessible to us.

    Te gallery chapel on the north now

    lacks its ormer five-sided apse. Aferits presumed collapse, it was rebuilt with

    only a flat wall at its eastern end. Mango,

    Byzantine Church, , assumes that the

    rebuilding o the chapel took place during

    the urkish period.

    Brick arches on top and a continuous

    row o ashlar blocks on the bottom clearly

    define the size o the original windows. Te

    use o smaller, more irregularly placed stones

    in the upper fill seems to indicate that the

    windows were closed over time rather than

    all at once. Te narrow window that once opened

    in the eastern apse o the south gallery

    chapel is only aintly visible on the exterior,

    but largely preserved on the interior.

    Tis has already been observed by

    tken and Ousterhout, Notes, .

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, south aade,

    detail o reinorcement wall behind west

    arcosolium

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    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, south aade,

    wall protruding south with blocked archway

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, diakonikon,

    ragment o original marble floor

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, sanctuary with

    original floor tiles and templon stylobate

    (drawing: R. Casagrande)

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    and markings on the marble blocks suggest that theyonce must have formed the stylobate of a templonscreen. A central doorway about one meter wide canbe reconstructed on the basis of dowel holes andtraces of wear, which le the marble considerably

    more polished in the center than in other areas.Fragments of the Byzantine opus sectile floor(fig. ), previously described by Dirimtekin, Mango,and Eyice as having been reused in the Ottomanmarble floor, were recovered during the field-

    work campaign together with other Byzantinespolia in the southwest corner of the narthex.Among the more prominent pieces found in thenarthex were parts of an ambo (figs. ), frag-ments of a lintel with a central cross (fig. ) thatresembles closely those that can still be found in situ,

    and various fragments of a marble screen decoratedwith crosses in double relief (fig. ). A comprehensive catalogueof the sites spolia, which relate to the decoration of both the extantByzantine church and its predecessor, is currently underway and willbe published upon completion.

    Work on the church continued during the second season of field-work in with a thorough cleaning of the brush and dirt that hadaccumulated for twenty-five years in the corridors flanking the north,south, and east faades (fig. ). Te cleaning, which was not only a

    prerequisite for a photogrammetric evaluation of the exterior faades

    of the building but was also expected to yield new information aboutthe structure partially excavated during the Vakflar restoration, ledto the discovery of the remains of two walls that run parallel to thenorth and south aisles of the extant building (figs. ). In the earlys, these walls were used as foundations for the large retaining wallsthat now flank the church on both sides. As the orientation of the

    walls closely corresponds with that of the apse found to the east ofthe present structure, it might be presumed that they formed part of a

    For earlier reerences to the opus

    sectile floor ragments, see Dirimtekin,

    Church o St. Sophia, (n. above);

    Eyice, rakya, res. ; Mango, Byzantine

    Church, . Afer the Vakflar restoration,

    the ragments were seen and summarily

    described by Kahramankaptan and Erturul,

    Vize, (n. above).

    tken and Ousterhout, Notes, ,

    mention the ragment o an ambo along with

    an Ionic impost capital as lying to the west

    o the building with numerous other spolia.

    Tey were probably removed rom this area

    and taken into the narthex or saekeeping

    afer the survey conducted by zkan

    Erturul in .

    It is hoped that the complete catalogue

    o architectural spolia ound on the site

    as well as in local museums will not only

    provide an inventory o liturgical urnishings

    associated with the present and previous

    churches, but also help to narrow down

    through an analysis o the spolia reused

    in the abric o the present building

    the approximate dates o construction or

    the two churches.

    At its western end the south wall rises

    to a height o about . m and consists o

    two layers o ashlar blocks topped by a band

    o three to our bricks with wide mortarbeds.

    Te north wall consists o larger ashlar blocks

    and incorporates sections o worked bedrock.

    Fig. Fragment o Byzantine opus sectile

    floor

    opposite page

    Figs. Fragments o an ambo

    (drawing: K. Noreen and R. Casagrande)

    Fig. Fragments o a lintel

    Fig. Fragments o a marble screen

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, south corridor

    afer cleaning in

    Figs. Vize, Hagia Sophia, south and

    north corridors, detail o wall belonging

    to previous structure

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    cm

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    basilican structure that preceded the present church. Te cleaning ofthe corridors and the main apse of this building allowed for the first

    time the drawing of an accurate plan of the remains of this structure(fig. ), previously recorded in a sketchy drawing by Yldz tkenand Robert Ousterhout.

    Te primary goal of the fieldwork campaign, however,was to conduct a thorough photogrammetric evaluation of the fourfaades of the building. Using a combination of traditional and inno-

    vative architectural survey techniques, i.e., reflector and reflectorlesstachymetry in combination with digital photography, it was possibleto render undistorted planimetric views of the buildings main faades(fig. ). Instrumental in our effort to survey the largeand partly

    inaccessiblestructure in a timely manner was the use of a reflectorlesstheodolite in combination with a semi-professional digital camera andthe soware PhotoPlan. Te computer-generated views thus createdof the four faades were printed out, checked against the fabric of thebuilding and hand drawn stone by stone. In a final step, the stone-by-stone drawings served to determine and record the various phases ofconstruction, reconstruction, and restoration of the building.

    In addition, a topographical survey has been started to render theacropolis of Vize with its Byzantine city walls and surviving ecclesiasti-cal structures in a single plan as well as in a three-dimensional digitalmodel. Te first step in this project was an exploration of the plateau

    Notes, , fig. .

    Tis work was conducted under the

    supervision o Ralph C. Rosenbauer, MA,

    and Auguste Waldmann, MA .

    Teodolite: Leica CR XR.

    Camera: Nikon D . Te sofware is an

    AutoCAD plug-in developed by Kubit

    GmbH, Dresden (www.kubit.de).

    Tis work was coordinated by Roberta

    Casagrande, MA, and Meredith Fluke (both

    o Columbia University). Very able support

    was provided by Kristian L. Hansen

    (Columbia University).

    A second, much smaller church or

    chapel has been discovered south o the

    church o Hagia Sophia during roadwork.

    While this structure has been partly exca-

    vated and its apse mosaic transported to

    the museum in ekirda, it has remained

    unpublished.

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, ground

    plan with remains o previous structure

    (drawing: R. Casagrande)

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    on which the church of Hagia Sophia and its predecessor were built (fig.). An extension of the landscape model is planned for one of the

    next fieldwork seasons as it will not only help to determine the spatialrelationship between the church of Hagia Sophia and a smaller churchor chapel to its south, discovered during roadwork, but also facilitate areconstruction of their exact location on the acropolis in relation to thesurviving system of walls and fortifications of the Byzantine city.

    Unfortunately, fieldwork in Vize in was hampered by the EdirneVakflar Blge Mdrl, which did not initially grant the neces-sary permission for us to continue our survey and restoration project.Instead, the Edirne Vakflar Blge Mdrl hired a private companyto execute those restoration measures we had advocated in our previ-

    ous two survey applications with the Department of Antiquities inAnkara. Despite an offer to cooperate with the authorities in Edirneand to oversee the restoration work that was to be executed, the nec-essary work permits were not granted until September , whichresulted in the cancellation of the fieldwork season.

    An application to continue fieldwork in Vize in has been sub-mitted with the Department of Antiquities in Ankara. Unfortunately,

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, west

    aade (drawing: R. Rosenbauer and

    R. Casagrande)

    Tis work was conducted by Stephanie

    Chasaign and Jelena Deli (both o the

    Universitt Zrich).

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    the Edirne Vakflar Blge Mdrl has meanwhile started its ownrestoration project on the building. In May , a team of workmen

    was seen conducting restoration work on the buildings west faadewithout supervision by an archaeologist or architect. Given the dev-astating results of the first Vakflar restoration campaign in the earlys, it can only be hoped that the current project will not once againresult in the destruction of valuable archaeological evidence.

    Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt, MunichTe Cleveland Museum of Art

    We thank Slobodan uri (Princeton University), Robert G.

    Ousterhout (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Urs Peschlow(Johannes-Gutenberg-Universitt Mainz), Cecil Striker (Universityof Pennsylvania), and Alice-Mary albot (Dumbarton Oaks) for theirsupport and advice on this project. For their help and assistance inurkey, we would like to acknowledge Seluk Ylmaz (Belediye BakanVekili), Mustafa H. Sayar (stanbul niversitesi), uncay Sonel (VizeKaimakam), and Nalan Gven (Krklareli Mzesi).

    Te work was observed by Dr.

    Alessandra Ricci and a group o doctoral and

    postdoctoral ellows rom the Center or

    Anatolian Civilizations at Ko University.

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, site plan

    (drawing: R. Rosenbauer)

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    PostscriptIn late June , the Department of Antiquities in Ankara informed

    the authors of this report that permission to continue survey work atthe Gazi Sleyman Paa Camii in Vize could not be granted due toongoing restoration work by the Edirne Vakflar Blge Mdrlat the site. Te full extent of the work carried out between May andAugust did not become apparent until a recent visit to Vize inlate September . By that time, all four faades of the building hadbeen re-pointed, the roof retiled, windows replaced, and a new mina-ret reconstructed above the foundations of its predecessor (Fig. ).Tese measures, which must be regarded as a renovation rather than anattempt to restore and preserve an important architectural monument,have once again resulted in a loss of historic substance and archaeo-

    logical evidence: the re-pointing of the brick faades has effectivelydestroyed the fabric of the building, especially in the area of the south-

    western arcosolium and the southeastern archway. What remained ofthe narthex vault has been destroyed and rebuilt with cinderblocks.In the interior, the concrete floor of the previous Vakflar restoration

    was removed and replaced by a new concrete floor. Fragments of floormosaics belonging to the earlier basilica were uncovered (and later

    Fig. Vize, Hagia Sophia, exterior

    rom southwest, August

    (photo: S. Westphalen)

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    covered again with concrete) both in the interior of the building andthe ambulatories to the north and south. Whether these archaeologi-cal remains were appropriately documented by zkan Erturul and ateam of students from rakya Universitesi in Edirne, who were allowed(by the Vakflar?) to conduct archaeological excavations on the site, is

    uncertain. Te decision was also made to remove a large amount ofaccumulated earth in front of the buildings western faade. Te exca-vation of this area resulted in the discovery and removal of eighteenburials, several architectural spolia, and a set of walls still visible promi-nently in Mangos photographs (see Figs. , ), whose date and func-tion had not yet been clarified. Whether or not the finds that resultedfrom this excavation were adequately documented remains unclear.Due to the intervention of Nalan Gven of the Krklareli Museum, theexcavated architectural spolia and other materials are now preserved inthe museum in Krklareli. While a future documentation and publica-tion of these spolia may help to clarify some aspects of the history of

    the two buildings that occupied the site, the loss and destruction oftheir archaeological context is regrettable.