--KAPAK ARAÞTIRMA kopya - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

Further east, the defence wall running northwards from the lighthouse tower would
appear to be have been part of the walls at the eastern extremity of the Chrysotriklinos
terrace, the famous heliakos (open-air terrace) where most of the public imperial
ceremonies took place in the ninth-tenth century. This might have been the "sun-lit
walk" going from the Single Door towards the Pharos (=the Lighthouse Tower), between
the Bath of Basil I to the west and the Nea Ecclesia, dedicated by Basil I in 881, to
the east 9. In 969, under Nikephoros Phokas (963-69), when the core of the Palace near
the Boukoleon harbour became a fortified castle, this earlier wall apparently became
the defence-wall marking the eastern boundaries of the Sacred Palace 10.
Later on, after the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204, the Palaeologans
transferred the official imperial residence to the Blachernae Palace on the Golden Horn
and the major halls of the Great Palace were only to be used in rare grand occasions.
At this time in the Boukoleon harbour little houses were built on the passage-ways on
the top of the sea-walls and the big arches of the Monumental Landing Staircase were
reduced to small entrance gates pierced in thick stone walls 11.
Subsequently, after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Palace
harbour was taken over by fishermen, and the small mosque of Kapı Ağası Mahmut
Ağa and its devotional complex were founded by Sinan in 1553 12, on the ruins of several
key buildings of the Palace at the eastern extremity of the Chrysotriklinos terrace.
There, beyond the defence-wall running south to the lighthouse tower, was the point
of connexion between the Lower Palace and the Higher Palace.
I conclude this historical excursus in the hope that after following the itinerary
through the Boukoleon one would be able to plunge into the whole thousand-year history
of the Palace by walking on or beside the sea-walls between Küçük Aya Sofya
Spor Kulübü and the Maritime Gate, and the defence-wall near the lighthouse tower
and the devotional complex of Kapı Ağası Mahmut Ağa. The installation of an explicatory
panel is planned at the centre of the gardens, just in front of the loggia, between
the Monumental Landing Staircase and the Lighthouse Tower on Sahil Yolu. This panel
will of course connect with smaller specific panels illustrating the various key parts
of the Monumental Itinerary of the Boukoleon harbour (Table: 4).
Needless to say, the completion of the itinerary and its opening to the public,
planned for five years after the beginning of the work, will greatly contribute to the revitalization
of the neighbourhood, which has a rich history but which is still absent from
the cultural tourism rôutes in present-day İstanbul.
We come now to the second part of this paper, where I shall report on the specific
problems of structural restoration, about which I have been informed by various
colleagues whom I shall mention. In order to insure that the restored monument remains
intact and protected from the weather and structural damage after its opening to the
public, we shall require:
1. the inspection of the soil around the foundations;
2. the analysis of the construction techniques used in the building as it stands;
3. the recording of any erosion of the specific materials.
As regards the first point, last summer we were able to make two boreholes in
the ground before the sea walls, in front of the wall of the loggia at the at the height of
the three-mullioned window to the east, and before the monumental landing staircase
at the external corner between the two big arches to the south and east (Table: 5).
9 Th. Cont. Vita Basilii V.87, Ps-Sym.692, Geo. Mon. Cont. 845, Leo Gr. 258. For a discussion of the date see R. J. H.
Jenkis and C. Mango, "The Date and Significance of the Tenth Homily of Photius" DOP 9-10 (1956), 125-40; P.
Magdalino, "Observations on the Nea Ecclesia", JÖB 37 (1987), 51-64, spec. 56
10 Leo Diac: Bonn, 64 ; cfr. Zonaras: Bonn, III, 507-08,512.
11 R. Guilland, La disparition du Grand Palais, BSl 31 (1970), 189-91.
12 Müller-Wiener, Bildlexikon, cit., 127-128; E. Dede, Kap› A¤as› Mahmut A¤a, cit.
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