--KAPAK ARAÞTIRMA kopya - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

After the Second World War many scholars have devoted themselves to the
study of Constantinople sculpture: among them I like to mention especially: A. Grabar
14, the late N. Fıratlı 15 and R. M. Harrison 16 and also Chr. Strube 17, J. P. Sodini 18,
U. Peschlow 19, J. Kramer 20, Cl. Barsant 21 and Th. Zollt 22, besides, of course, Deichmann
23. But, anyway, there is still much to be studied in depth in this field.
Today I want to recall the most important, most revolutionary episode of the glorious
artistic life of the Capital: St Polyeukto’s Church rebuilt by Anicia Iuliana probably
between 524 and 527 A.D. and found in 1960 in the Saraçhane district 24. It is already
been observed that there are traces of the Iranian elements in the sculptures of the
church 25, but the prevailing trend nowadays is to consider the figured textiles as the
only one link of the innovations introduced by St Polyeuktos. A large part of scholars
has tried to consider St Polyeuktos’ simply as an episode where a mixed and heterodox
kind of decoration would have been soon reabsorbed with the churches of the Ss
Serge and Bacchus (finished in 526 A.D.) and with St Sophia (532-537 A.D.). At the same
time the innovations in St Polyeuktos’ decoration have been played down trying to
search its precedents and using appropriate chronological reconstructions and interpretations.
However, in spite of all the efforts made, there have not been found any exp-
14 A. Grabar, Sculptures byzantines de Constantinople (IV e -X e siècle), Paris 1963; Sculptures byzantines du moyen âge
(XI e -XIV e siècle), Paris 1976.
15 N. Fıratlı, A Short Guide to the Byzantine Works of Art in the Archaeological Museum of ‹stanbul, İstanbul 1955; La
sculpture byzantine figurée au Musée Archéologique d’‹stanbul, Paris 1990.
16 R.M. Harrison, in Akten des VII. Internationalen Kongresses für Christliche Archäologie (Trier, 5.-11. September
1965), Città del Vaticano 1969, pp. 543-549; DOP, 27 (1973), pp. 297-300; Excavations at Saraçhane in ‹stanbul, I,
Princeton 1986; A Temple for Byzantium. The Discovery and Excavations of Anicia Juliana’s Palace-Church in ‹stanbul,
London 1989.
17Chr. Strube, JbAChr, 26 (1983), pp. 59-106; Polyeuktoskirche und Hagia Sophia. Umbildung und Auflösung antiker
Formen, Entstehen des Kämpferkapitells, München 1984.
18 J. P. Sodini, BCH, 100 (1976), pp. 493-510; BCH, 101 (1977), pp. 423-450 and 471-511; Ktema, 4 (1979), pp. 71-78;
in Rayonnement grec. Hommages à Charles Delvoye, Bruxelles 1982, pp. 325-340; in Actes du X e Congrès international
d’archéologie chrétienne (Thessalonique, 28 septembre – 4 octobre 1980), I, Città del Vaticano 1984, pp. 207-
298; in J.P. Sodini – K. Kolokotsas, Aliki, 2: La basilique double, Paris 1984, pp. 17-209; in Hommes et richesses dans
l’empire byzantin, I: IV e -VII e siècle, Paris 1989, pp. 163-186; JRA, 4 (1991), pp. 403-408; in Byzance et les images,
Paris 1994, pp. 41-94; in Aetos. Studies in Honour of Cyril Mango, Stuttgart 1998, pp. 306-313; in Acta XIII Congressus
internationalis archaeologiae christianae (Split – Porec, 25.9-1.10. 1994), II, Città del Vaticano 1998 (but 1999),
pp. 301-315.
19 U. Peschlow, in F.W. Deichmann, Corpus der Kapitelle der Kirche von San Marco zu Venedig, Wiesbaden 1981; in
Akten des XVI. Internationalen Byzantinistenkongresses (Wien, 4.-9. Oktober 1981), II, 4, Wien 1982, pp. 429-434;
in Aphieroma ste mneme Stylianou Pelekanide, Thessalonike 1983, pp. 406-417; in Studien zur spätantiken und
byzantinischen Kunst Friedrich Wilhelm Deichmann gewidmet, I, Bonn 1986, pp. 21-33; in Armos. Timetikos tomos
ston N.K. Moutsopoulo, Thessalonike 1990, pp. 1449-1475; in Tesserae. Festschrift für Josef Engemann, Münster
1991, pp. 215-228; in Akten des XII. Internationalen Kongresses für Christliche Archäologie (Bonn, 22.-28. September
1991), Münster 1995, pp. 1101-1106.
20 J. Kramer, Skulpturen mit Adlerfiguren an Bauten des 5. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. an Konstantinopel, Diss. München
1965; BJb, 170 (1970), pp. 271-278; in Deichmann, Corpus der Kapitelle der Kirche von San Marco zu Venedig; in
Festschrift für Klaus Wessel, München 1988, pp. 175-190; Korinthische Pilasterkapitelle in Kleinasien und Konstantinopel.
Antike und spätantike Werkstattgruppen, Tübingen 1994; in Vom Orient bis an den Rhein. Begegnungen mit
der christlichen Archäologie, Dettelbach 1997, pp. 101-122; in Spätantike und byzantinische Bauskulptur (Beiträge eines
Symposions, Mainz, 18.-20. Februar 1994), Stuttgart 1998, pp. 43-58.
21 Cl. Barsanti, in Akten des XVI. Internationalen Byzantinistenkongresses, II, 4, pp. 419-428; RINASA, III s., 12 (1989,
but 1990), pp. 91-220; in Costantinopoli e l’arte delle province orientali, Roma 1990, pp. 423-428 and 429-436; in San
Clemente. La scultura del VI secolo, Roma 1992, pp. 69-83, 85-96, 125-193, 249-270; in EAM, IV, Roma 1993, pp.
200-214; in EAA. Secondo Supplemento 1971-1994, I, Roma 1994, pp. 867-873; in Akten des XII. Internationalen
Kongresses für Christliche Archäologie, pp. 515-523; in Cl. Barsanti – A. Guiglia Guidobaldi, in Bisanzio e l’Occidente:
arte, archeologia, storia, Roma 1996, pp. 79-93; in Acta XIII Congressus internationalis archaeologiae christianae,
II, pp. 316-336; in 1983-1993. Dieci anni di archeologia cristiana in Italia (Atti del VII Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia
Cristiana, Cassino, 20-24 settembre 1993), Cassino 2003, pp. 745-760.
22 Th. Zollt, Kapitellplastik Konstantinopels vom 4. bis 6. Jahrhundert n. Chr., Bonn 1994.
23 In addition to the studies quoted in note 8, see F.W. Deichmann, Studien zur Architektur Konstantinopels im 5. und 6.
Jahrhundert nach Christus, Baden Baden 1956; RendPARA, 50 (1977-1978, but 1980), pp. 75-89; Corpus der Kapitelle
der Kirche von San Marco zu Venedig.
24 C. Mango – I. Sevcenko, DOP, 15 (1961), pp. 243-247, and the bibliography mentioned at note 16.
25 About the so called Acritan pillars in St. Mark small square, starting from J. Strzygowski, in JbKPreuszKunstS, 25
(1904), pp. 301-303, 360; E. Herzfeld, Am Tor von Asien, Berlin 1920, p. 78; Ch. Diehl, Manuel d’art byzantin, Paris
1925 2 , p. 49.
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