| Church of Saint Benoit Saint Benoit Kilisesi | |
|---|---|
 The Church seen from south | |
  Church of Saint Benoit Saint Benoit Kilisesi | |
| 41°01′30″N28°58′36″E / 41.025°N 28.97660°E /41.025; 28.97660 | |
| Location | Beyoğlu,Istanbul |
| Country | Turkey |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Benedict,Sancta Maria de Misericordia |
| Dedicated | 12 May 1427 |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural type | church |
| Groundbreaking | 1427 |
| Completed | 1871 |
Saint Benoit (French:Saint Benoît;Turkish:Saint Benoît Latin Katolik Kilisesi; alsoItalian:Santa Maria della Cisterna) is aRoman Catholic Church inIstanbul, Turkey, important for historical reasons. Established in 1427, the shrine is the oldestCatholicchurch of Istanbul still in use.[1]
The edifice lies in Istanbul, in the district ofBeyoğlu, in the neighborhood ofKaraköy (ancient Galata), almost at the border withTophane, at Kemeraltı Caddesi 11, on a terrace at the top of a staircase.
On May 12, 1427,BenedictinefriarDom Nicolas Meynet, together with friars fromGenoa founded a monastery inConstantinople, on the southeastern slope of theGalata hill.[2] The Genoese had since a few years enlarged for the sixth and last time the wall which protected theirPeyre Galata citadel, and the monastery was built just inside the new ramparts.[3] The church, jointly dedicated toSt. Benedict and theVirgin Mary (Latin:Sancta Maria de Misericordia),[4] lay on the ruins of an ancient church and near a large cistern, both Byzantine.[2] Due to that, the church was also known as of "Santa Maria della Cisterna".[4] On May 13, 1449, the Friars joined the congregation ofSt. Justine from Padova. In 1450, the little monastery had 16 monks.[2] In 1453, shortly before theOttomanConquest of Constantinople, the friars sent all the relics and the religious ornaments of their church toChios and then toGenoa, to rescue them from the impending Ottoman attack.[2]
After 1478, the community was repeatedly shuttered by fights among friars,[5] until SultanSuleyman the Magnificent menaced to convert the building into amosque for theMoors who, expelled in those years from Spain, were resettling in Galata.[4] Thanks to the intercession of KingFrancois I of France, the friars could remain in the complex, which became the Royal chapel of the Ambassador of France at thePorte.[4][6] In 1540, French voyagerPierre Gilles visited the site, and described the giant cistern with 300 columns, which were later dismantled and sold by the Genoese.[7]
On 18 November 1583, members of theSociety of Jesus led byGiulio Mancinelli, sent by PopeGregory XIII upon request of theMagnifica Communità di Pera (the Genoese administration in Galata), took charge of the church, founding a school in the precincts of the monastery.[6]
The shrine burned several times: after the first fire in 1610, it was restored by aVenetian andFrench endowment.[7] St. Benoit was the only church to be spared by the great fire of Galata of 1660, but the monastery in that occasion was damaged and plundered.[7]
During the Seventeenth Century the monastery's life was disturbed several times byplague and internal disputes among friars.[7] In 1686 the church burned because of negligence, and was restored by the friars and the French ambassador.[7] In this occasion theMufti of Istanbul donated the pillars still standing at the top of the staircase, and approved the reconstruction project with alead roof cover andvaults, elements usually allowed only for mosques.[6] In 1696 the church burned again but was restored one year later by the association of the Merchants ofMarseille.[7]
In this period St. Benoit became the most prestigious church of Galata, being used as a burial place by the upper class of the quarter and by several aristocrats and French ambassadors.[7] Moreover, Saint Benoit was also used as national church of the Germans in Istanbul.[6] During these years n hospital was added to the complex.[7] The Seventeenth-Century Ottoman travelerEvliya Çelebi describes the shrine as a "French church with anOrgan".[6] In 1731 the edifice burned again during another quarter fire, but was restored in 1732 by the French Ambassador.[7]
On 6 July 1735 the body of the Hungarian exileFrancis II Rákóczi, considered a national hero in his country, was buried in St. Benoit, next to his mother Zrínyi Ilona. There they remained, their graves often visited by Hungarian visitors to the city, until moved to Hungary in 1906.
After theSuppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773,[7] in 1783 FrenchLazarists friars took over the complex.[7] At the end of the eighteenth century a chapel dedicated toSt. Anne was built.[7] After problems during theFrench Revolution, in 1804 the friars restored the church,[6] and transformed the existing school into the "Lycée Saint-Benoît d'Istanbul [fr;tr]" (Turkish:Özel Saint-Benoît Fransız Lisesi)[7] which exists still today and is one of the most prestigious private schools in Istanbul.
In 1839, nuns belonging to theSoeurs de la Charité (Daughters of Charity) society came from France and founded the female section of the school.[6] In 1840 the school was moved toBebek,[7] but after the demolition of part of the Genoese ramparts of Galata, the school moved back here. In 1865 part of the left aisle and the atrium with several inscriptions burned. This part of the church was coarsely restored in 1871.[6]
In 1867 the complex was enlarged with the erection of the "Maison de la providence" complex, comprising, among others, an orphanage, a hospital and a seminary.[7]
The church was never one of the Roman CatholicParishes of the Frankish quarter of Istanbul,[6] but is the oldest Catholic church in Istanbul still in use.[1]
The church has the entrance on Kemeraltı Caddesi, and can be reached by a staircase leading uphill.[7] The complex leans on a terrace, perhaps part of the Byzantine cistern which once lay nearby. During the Ottoman age the site became a fruit garden, and was then known under the name Çukurbostan ("Hollow Garden").[2] Originally the small church with three naves had only one dome (the two over the side aisles are later additions), an atrium and a gallery, while the interior was decorated with much admired mosaics depicting the life and passion of Christ.[6] The rectangular building is oriented in direction southwest–northeast and has an entrance on the west side with an atrium whosecolumns andcapitals are almost totally Byzantinespolia.[4] The edifice'sbrickwork is made of alternate rows of stones and bricks, and the three naves are covered bygroin vaults.[4] The main and the south naves originate from the 1752 restoration, while the north one has been erected during the 1871 reconstruction.[8] The first two naves end to the east with small chambers covered with domes.[4] It is possible that the southernmost of these chambers is still a remain of an ancient Byzantine church.[4] The portal on Kemeraltı Caddesi and the bell tower with square plan andcrenelated moulding, originally a watch tower,[3] come both from the fifteenth century.[8] In the interior, several inscribed gravestones from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries remember wealthyLevantine families, church's benefactors, and French Ambassadors.[7] In the church were among others buried the Croatian noblewomanJelena Zrinska and her son, the Hungarian aristocratFrancis II Rákóczi, both dead in exile in the Ottoman Empire.[9]
