What I can see

The church of Agios Panteleimon is composite four-column cruciform inscribed with a dome and an ambulatory. A second dome crowns the narthex. The central dome is octagonal and rests on columns from older buildings. On the east side of the church, there are two chapels. The church is an example of the architecture of the Paleologian renaissance, i.e. the era when more than one dome and chapels were established. Thus, the secondary spaces create stepped volumes, which emphasize the central one, culminating in the central dome. Only Saint Jacob the Just and Mother of Christ, saints and hierarchs in the chapels have survived of the original painting decoration (13th-14th centuries). These frescoes are characterized as “transitional” in terms of style, as they combine monumentality and the anti-classical perception of the 13th century with the colour harmony and typology of faces of the 14th century.

What I can't see

The name of the church is much newer. Initially, the church was the central church of the Monastery of Theotokos (Mother of Christ) Perivleptos of the 14th century, also known as the monastery of Mr. Isaac (founder). The monastery was associated with great spiritual personalities of the time. Perhaps the name Agios Panteleimon comes from a neighbouring chapel that does not exist today and to which the utensils of the church had been transferred, when it was converted into a mosque (mid-16th century) with the name Ishakiye Mosque (Isaac’s Mosque). Other researchers claim that the monastery existed as early as the 12th century and was converted into a mosque around 1500 by the kadi (Ottoman title) Ishak Celebi. This opinion, however, is weak, because the architecture of the church places it one or two centuries later. With the conversion to a mosque, the frescoes and exterior walls were whitewashed, a minaret was erected, the base of which is still visible today, and a fountain was constructed. At the beginning of the 20th century, the building was repaired and the arcade was demolished. The painted decoration of the narthex is from that time. Part of the pulpit comes from the church of Agios Georgios and is considered one of the masterpieces of Byzantine art. The rest was transferred to the Imperial Museum of Istanbul in 1900.

Info

• Address: Iassonidou & Arrianou St.

Bibliography