Table Of ContentRESTO I N G
BYZANTIUM
THE KARIYE CAMI I IN ISTANBUL AND
THE BYZANTINE INSTITUTE
RESTORATION
EDITED BY
Holger A. Klein
in collaboration with Robert G. Ousterhout
ESSAYS BY
Dimiter Angelov · Sarah T. Brooks · Francesca Dell'Acqua
Eunice D. Maguire· Robert G. Ousterhout
Natalia Teteriatnikov
MIRIAM AND IRA D. WALLACH ART GALLERY
Columbia University in the City of New York
2004
This publication is issued in conjunction with the exhibition Restoring Byzantium: The
Kariye Camii in Istanbul and the Byzantine Institute Restoration, held at the Miriam and Ira D.
Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University in the City of New York, 14 April through
12 June 2004. The exhibition will be on view at the Krannert Art Museum, Universi
ty of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 24 August through IO October 2004.
The exhibition and publication have been made possible through generous grants
from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Chrest Foundation, and the Joukowski
Family Foundation, and by an endowment established by Miriam and Ira D. Wallach.
FR o NT Is PIECE: Thomas Whittemore in the outer narthex of Kariy e Camii,
1945- 50. Photographer: Dmitri Kessel (cat. IV- 68)
PUBLISHED BY THE MIRIAM AND IRA D. WALLACH ART GALLERY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
Copyright ©2004 The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Control Number 2004102794
ISBN I-884919-15-4
]~ ,,1"711'1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Vll
Holger A. Klein Curator's Foreword l
Robert G. Ousterhout The Kariye Camii: An Introduction 5
Dimiter Angelov Theodore Metochites: Statesman, Intellectual, Poet, and Patron
of the Arts 15
Sarah T Brooks The History and Significance of Tomb Monuments at
the Chara Monastery 23
RobertG. Ousterhout (Re)Presenting the Kariye Camii: Architecture, Archaeology,
and Restoration 32
Natalia Teteriatnikov The Byzantine Institute and Its Role in the Conservation of
the Kariye Camii 43
Eunice D. Maguire Byzantine and Medieval Ceramics from the Kariye Camii 61
Francesca Dell'Acqua The Stained-Glass Windows from the Chara and the Pantokrator
Monasteries: A Byzantine "Mystery"? 68
PLATES 79
CHECKLIST OF THE EXHIBITION 141
GLOSSARY 149
ACI(NOWLEDGMENTS
T HE EX H I B I TI ON Restoring Byzantium: The lending add immeasurably to the exhibition.
Kariye Camii in Istanbul and the Byzantine Institute Joseph Mills, the photographer at Dumbarton
Restoration and its accompanying catalogue would Oaks, took new photographs of many of the
not have been possible without the generous assis objects featured in this catalogue. Katherine Hill,
tance and support of many institutions - private Brooke Shilling, and Marta Zlotnick gave skillful
foundations, museums, libraries, archives - and assistance with photograph orders.
individuals. It is thus a great pleasure for me to I would like to thank Julian Raby; the director
acknowledge and thank all those who were of the Freer Gallery and Arthur M. Sackler
involved in the various stages of the preparation Gallery in Washington, D.C., for lending a facsim
and installation of the exhibition as well as the ile of the Khalili Portolan Atlas, and Ilene Forsyth,
publication of this catalogue. Professor Emerita of the University of Michigan
First and foremost, I would like to thank the at Ann Arbor, for her willingness to let us borrow
Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Joukowski Fam the field notebook of her late husband, George
ily Foundation, and the Chrest Foundation for H. Forsyth. I am grateful to Jim Lewin, president
their generous financial support of this project. of Image Delivery Systems, for producing large
The Center for the Ancient Mediterranean at scale prints of the Byzantine Institute conserva
Columbia University has kindly provided funds tion photographs, which form a major part of our
for the symposium held in conjunction with the exhibition. Many thanks go also to Arthur and
exhibition. My gratitude goes to Edward 1. Deborah Page of Page Conservation for their
Keenan, the director of Dumbarton Oaks, the treatment of the painted replicas of the frescoes of
most important lender to the exhibition, for his the Kariye Camii parekklesion; it is their expertise
willingness to support this ambitious undertak that finally made these treasures accessible after
ing. Others at Dumbarton Oaks provided help nearly five decades.
that was essential to the realization of this project. At Columbia University; many colleagues and
Alice-Mary Talbot, the director of Byzantine friends in various departments provided crucial
Studies, was generous with her advice on numer support and advice. At the Rare Book and Manu
ous occasions. I would like to thank Natalia Tete script Library; Jennifer B. Lee, the director of Pub
riatnikov, the curator of the Byzantine Photo lic Services and Programs; Consuelo Dutschke,
graph and Fieldwork Archives, for granting access the curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manu
to the painted replicas, photographs, and other scripts; and Tanya Chebotarev, the curator of the
archival holdings of the Byzantine Institute of Bakhmeteff Archive, graciously made their hold
America. I am indebted to her for her help in ings accessible for study and generously made
selecting many objects for this exhibition, prepar loans to our exhibition. For their patience and
ing part of the checklist for the catalogue, and generosity; I would like to thank colleagues at the
overseeing the conservation of the painted repli Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library: Angela
cas of the Kariye Camii frescoes. For their Giral, its former director; Kitty Chibnik, the
patience, support, and advice, I am deeply grateful library's associate director; and Claudia Funke, the
to Susan A. Boyd, curator of the Byzantine Col curator of rare books.
lection at Dumbarton Oaks, and Stephen R. A special note of thanks goes to my friends and
Zwirn, assistant curator; the precious archaeologi colleagues in the Visual Media Center, who trav
cal finds from the Kariye Camii that they are eled to Istanbul with me in the summer of 2003 to
vu
RESTORING BYZANTIUM
prepare the media components for our exhibition: Byzantium": Deborah Brown, Britt Eilhardt,
Robert Carlucci, the director of the Visual Media Christina Ferando, Meredith Fluke, Kristian
Center; James Conlon, able fund-raiser and pho Hansen, Stevie Kasparian, Michelle Morris,
tographer; Jeremy Stynes, the developer of the Catherine Roach, and Johanna Seasonwein.
exhibition Web site and related educational tools; Finally, I extend my thanks to five people whose
Andrew Tallon, the producer of the exhibition tireless efforts have made this exhibition and cata
documentary; and Olsen Jean-Julien, who "built" logue a truly exceptional experience: my colleague
the three-dimensional computer model of the and collaborator Robert Ousterhout, whose kind
Kariye Camii. Without them this project could support and knowledge of the Kariye Camii was
not have been realized. crucial in many ways for the success of this exhibi
Geoffrey Taylor, architect and architectural his tion; Sarah Elliston Weiner, the director of the
torian, served as exhibition designer and provided Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery and
invaluable advice and generous help with the patient line editor of the present publication;
installation. In Istanbul, Franz Alto Bauer's hos Jeanette Silverthorne, the assistant director; Lil
pitality and skills as interpreter were much appre lian Vargas, the most able administrative assistant;
ciated. In addition, the staff of the Visual Media and, last but not least, Larry Soucy, the gallery
Center, especially Ethan Robey, were always will technician, whose wide range of skills was much
ing to help with computer problems and other appreciated and admired.
cnses.
HOLGER A. KLEIN
For their hard work on the wall and object
Curator of the exhibition
labels for the exhibition, I would like to thank the
Assistant Professor of Art History and Archaeology;
participants of my graduate seminar "Exhibiting Columbia University
LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION
Ilene H. Forsyth
Robert G. Ousterhout
Julian Raby
Columbia University, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Columbia University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations, General Research Division
Vlll
Curator's Foreword
HOLGER A. KLEIN
ITH THE EXCEPTION of Hagia Early Christian and Byzantine art in the Depart
Sophia, no Byzantine monument in ment of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at the
the modern city of Istanbul can rival Metropolitan Museum, had come to look at a
the former church of the monastery number of large-scale replicas of several of the
of the Chora (Kariye Camii) in either the lavish frescoes in the Kariye Camii's parekklesion. Paint
ness and splendor of its interior decoration, the ed during the Byzantine Institute of America's
upkeep of its grounds and garden, or, for that mat restoration of the building in the mid-195os,
ter, the number of tourists from all over the world these facsimiles had been rolled up and stored in
visiting the site each year in search of the city's the basement of Dumbarton Oaks since the com
glorious Byzantine past. "The Glories of Ancient pletion of the institute's work in Istanbul. The
Byzantium: Mosaics and Frescoes Newly Revealed canvases had never been put back on stretchers
and Restored in the Church of the Chora" was, in after their arrival in Washington, and therefore
fact, the headline of an article, cut out of the Illus they had never been exhibited. Back in the fall of
trated London News of 30 April 1955 and marked with 1999, Helen Evans had just entered into the plan
the cipher "RB to HK," that ended up one morn ning stages of a Late Byzantine sequel to the Mid
ing, just about two years ago, in my mailbox at dle Byzantine blockbuster The Glory of Byzantium:
Columbia University What neither my esteemed Art and Culture oft he Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261
colleague Richard Brilliant, the prolific donor of and had come to Dumbarton Oaks to see if these
this and other notes and offprints on Byzantine canvases could somehow be incorporated into the
art and architecture, nor I realized at the time was future exhibition Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-
that this clipping would provide crucial inspira 1557). As I learned from Helen Evans about two
tion for me to organize an exhibition on the very years later - shortly after the retrieval of the news
restoration hailed in the article as having revealed clipping from my Columbia University mailbox,
the glories of ancient Byzantium. Reading the in fact - this plan had never materialized. Since
news clipping on the recovery of the mosaics and the Metropolitan Museum of Art no longer
frescoes of the Kariye Camii, I remembered that intended to use the Byzantine Institute's fresco
several years earlier, while doing research at the replicas in its exhibition, the possibility arose of
Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies in developing a separate but concurrent exhibition
Washington, D.C., Helen Evans, the curator of of these replicas at Columbia University's Wallach
I
RESTORING BYZANTIUM
Art Gallery, a space established in 1986 through since its secularization - has just been placed on the
the generosity of Miriam and Ira D. Wallach and World Monuments Fund's 2004 watchlist of the
operating under the auspices of Columbia's hundred most endangered sites. According to the
Department of Art History and Archaeology citation, "changes in the levels of humidity and ris
As the exhibition on the Kariye Camii started to ing ground water have resulted in the weakening
take shape, it became clear that Columbia Univer and deterioration of plaster surfaces, which is exac
sity could contribute much more than just a venue erbated by the leaching of salts that have left
for showing full-scale replicas of the Kariye Camii's destructive efflorescence on the frescoes."3 The fact
famous parekklesion frescoes. Thomas Whitte that, nearly fifty years after Thomas Whittemore
more, the charismatic founder and director of the and the Byzantine Institute's restoration of the
Byzantine Insitute of America, had a direct con Kariye Camii, its famous mosaic and fresco cycles
nection with Columbia, having taught courses in are once again in a precarious state of preservation
Greek and Egyptian art in its summer program.1 was reason enough to proceed with plans for an
The university was also in the possession of a large exhibition. It would not only draw attention to the
number of archival documents and records relating present needs of one of the most important monu
to Thomas Whittemore's early career as a fund ments of Late Byzantine art in Constantinople but
raiser and director of various charitable organiza also pay hommage to the team of scholars, conser
tions and committees - among them the Refugees vators, and workmen who unveiled "the glories of
in Russia/International Reconstruction League, ancient Byzantium" for us in the 1940s and 1950s.
the Committee for the Rescue and Education of In addition to a select number of archaeological
Russian Children, and the Committee for the Edu finds from the Byzantine Institute's 1957-58 exca
cation of Russian Youth in Exile - that he helped to vations at the church, the photographs taken and
establish during and after the First World War. the scale replicas painted during this period form
These documents now form part of Columbia Uni the core of the exhibition. The latter function as
versity's Bakhmeteff Archive, officially founded in historical records that reveal the state of preserva
1951 as a result of the establishment of the Russian tion of the Kariye Camii's decoration immediately
Institute at Columbia and currently one of the after the Byzantine Institute's cleaning and stabi
largest depositories of Russian emigre material out lization of the mosaics and frescoes. Continuing a
side of Russia.2 Reviewing these documents, I rec practice already established in the early years of the
ognized that Columbia's holdings, together with Byzantine Institute's activity in Istanbul, these and
other archival records currently preserved at the previous replicas were made with the intention "to
Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives at safeguard these paintings for the future . .. [by]
Dumbarton Oaks, would provide enough material copy[ing] them in colors and bring[ing] the copies
for an exhibition to highlight not only the impor to America."4 Forty years after their creation, they
tant Palaiologan mosaic and fresco cycles of the now fulfill for the first time this very function and
Kariye Camii, but also the yet unwritten history of serve to remind us of our responsibilities for the
this American-sponsored conservation campaign of continued care and preservation of the Kariye
a key Byzantine monument in Istanbul from the Camii's original decoration.
1947 through 1958. What the exhibition sets out to achieve, howev
The timing for such an undertaking could not er, is more than raising awareness of the current
have been more appropriate, as the Kariye Camii state of Byzantine monuments in Istanbul. It is
itself and its interior decoration are once again in also meant to introduce visitors to an aspect of
urgent need of repair and conservation. In fact, the Byzantine art that an exhibition of precious litur
Kariye Museum - the monument's official name gical and devotional objects and isolated a~chitec-
2
RESTORING BYZANTIUM
tural fragments cannot necessarily provide: an (pl. 2 7, cat. I I I -2), is exhibited along with a passage
experience of the scale and refined quality of a from his description of the church of the Chora
Late Byzantine monumental fresco and mosaic monastery and its location. Similarly, a passage from
program produced in a city that eagerly sought to Stephan Gerlach's description of the Chora in his
restore the glories of its past after more than two sixteenth-century Tage-Buch is included in the exhi
generations of Latin occupation (1204-61). The bition as a textual record and representation of a
title of the exhibition, Restoring Byzantium, thus has traveler's visit to Theodore Metochites' former
a double meaning, referring on the one hand to monastery The building itself is represented in the
the Byzantine Institute's dramatic uncovering - exhibition by means of the earliest published ren
and thus "restoration" - of a long-hidden cycle of derings of its exterior in Albert Lenoir's Architecture
Palaiologan frescoes, and on the other hand to monastique of 1852 (pl. 29, cat. III-6), Alexandros
Theodore Metochites' restoration of the Chora Paspates' more accurate view of 1877 (pl. 31, cat.
monastery, which itself formed part of a broader III-8), and, one year later, Domenico Pulgher's
Byzantine effort to "restore" the former glories of first color reproductions of the Kariye Camii's inte
the Byzantine empire. rior and exterior decoration (pls. 16-17, cat. III-9) .
Since it is impossible to bring the Kariye Camii With the publication of Fedor Shmit's mono
to New York City; the idea of its representation forms graph on the Kariye Camii in 1906 (pls. 18-19, 32,
an important concept of the exhibition. Through cat. II I-IO), the photographic medium is estab
historical representations of the city of Constan lished as the most important instrument for the
tinople/Istanbul from the fifteenth through the study, documentation, and visual dissemination of
nineteenth century, the visitor is led back in time to the building. To reproduce the extensive mosaic
the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453- and fresco cycles of the church in an accurate and
These images stress the virtual quality and repre satisfying manner, however, has remained a chal
sentational character of an exhibition that features lenge since then. The exhibition therefore includes
not tangible Byzantine objects but rather a remote a number of experimental displays and computer
and intangible Byzantine monument that forms animated programs that allow the vistor to (virtu
part of an ever-changing and expanding modern ally) enter the church and to explore its decorative
metropolis. What is presented in this exhibition is program in more detail. It is hoped that the juxta
not Istanbul, Constantinople, or the former position of old and new ways of representing the
Byzantine church now known as the Kariye Muse art and architecture of the Kariye Camii will
um, but rather representations of them created at engage the visitor in a creative way and supplement
different times, in different media, and with differ the experience of the more precious remains of
ent objectives. The visitor travels back in time with Late Byzantine art and culture concurrently on
the French draftsman Guillaume-Joseph Grelot, view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
who arrived in Istanbul in 1670 and stayed there This catalogue serves as a permanent record of
for two years. His Relation nouvelle d'un voyage de Con the exhibition and brings together scholars who
stantinople ofI68o contains not only his well-known have studied aspects of the Kariye Camii's art,
interiors ofHagia Sophia, the most accurate repre architecture, and history. Their essays and the
sentations published at the time, but also a view of extensive section of plates are meant as an intro
the city as seen from Galata (pl. 28, cat. I II-3), the duction to the monument, allowing the reader to
same location later chosen by the studio of Se bah & explore further its Byzantine and later history as
Joaillier for their noted photographic panorama of well as the multifaceted story of its scholarly
the city Petrus Gyllius' De Constantinopoleos Topographia rediscovery and restoration in the nineteenth and
of 1632, with its frontispiece view ofC onstantinople twentieth centuries.
3
