Samatya Anarad Hığutyun Ermeni Katolik Kilisesi Restorasyon Projesi

Abstract

Tezin konusu olan Anarad Hığutyun Ermeni Katolik Kilisesi 19. yüzyıl dini mimarisinin İstanbul’daki örneklerinden biridir. Temelleri 1856 yılında atılan neoklasik üsluptaki kagir kilisenin mimarı Andon Tülbentciyan’dır. Tek nefli plan şemasına sahip kilise, gavit (giriş mekanı), naos, koro alanı, galeri, soyunma odası, vaftiz odası, kuzeydoğu ve güneybatı balkonlarından oluşmaktadır. Samatya’da bulunan kilise 1957, 1992 ve 1999 depremi sonrasında onarımlar geçirmiştir. “Samatay Anarad Hığutyun Ermeni Katolik Kilisesi Restorasyon Projesi” adını taşıyan bu tez çalışması 9 bölümden oluşmaktadır. Birinci bölümde, çalışmanın amacı, kapsamı ve yöntemi açıklanmıştır. İkinci bölümde, Ermeni kilisesinin oluşumu ve Ermeni Katolik kilisesinin ana kiliseden ayrılması süreçleri ele alınmıştır. Üçüncü bölümde kilisenin tanımı ve bir yapı türü olarak ortaya çıkışı; Ermeni mimarisinin gelişimi, 19. yüzyıl dini mimarisi ve İstanbul’daki Ermeni Katolik kiliselerinin özellikleri anlatılmaktadır. Dördüncü bölümde, Bizans, Osmanlı ve Cumhuriyet dönemlerinde İstanbul’da yaşayan Ermenilerin sosyal ve kültürel özelliklerinden bahsedilmektedir. Beşinci bölümde, kilisenin bulunduğu Samatya semtinin konumu, coğrafi, fiziksel yapısı ve tarihçesi anlatılmaktadır. Altıncı bölümde, Anarad Hığutyun Ermeni Katolik Kilisesi’nin konum ve çevresi, tarihçesi, mekansal tanımı, cephe özellikleri, kullanılan malzemeler, yapım teknikleri, bezeme özellikleri, yapıda meydana gelen malzeme bozulmaları ve uygun olmayan kullanıcı müdahaleleri açıklanmıştır.Yedinci bölümde, yapıdaki restitüsyon sorunlarından bahsedilmiş, yararlanılan tarihi fotoğraf ve belgeler sunulmuştur. Sekizinci bölümde, yapının korunarak geleceğe aktarılması amacıyla hazırlanan restorasyon projesi anlatılmaktadır. Kilisenin günümüzdeki durumuna bakıldığında, oldukça iyi korunmuş olduğu görülmektedir. Analitik rölöve ve restitüsyon projesi doğrultusunda hazırlanan restorasyon projesinde sağlamlaştırma, bütünleme, yenileme ve temizleme olmak üzere güncel restorasyon teknikleri önerilmiştir. Koruma projesinde yapıdaki mevcut özgün detay ve yapım tekniklerinin korunması, yapılacak restorasyon müdahalelerinin özgün malzeme, detay ve yapım tekniğine uygun olması esas alınmıştır. Gerekli görülen durumlarda çağdaş restorasyon malzeme ve tekniklerden yararlanılması, uygunsuz eklerden arındırılması öngörülmüştür. Bu tez kapsamında Ermeni halkının İstanbul’a yerleşim sebepleri, yoğun olarak yaşadıkları bölgeler, tarihsel süreçteki nüfus yoğunlukları, sosyal yapıları, kültür ve mimarlık alanındaki faaliyetleri incelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda tez kapsamındaki mimari çalışmaların yanı sıra cemaatin sosyal yapısının anlaşılması yönünde de katkı sağlanmıştır. 19. yy neoklasik üsluptaki bu kültür varlığının belgelemesi yapılmış; yapının korunarak gelecek nesillere aktarılması için katkı sağlanması amaçlanmıştır. xviii

Anarad Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church, one of the 19th century sanctuaries in Istanbul is the topic of the thesis. The foundation stone of the neoclassical church was laid in 1856. The church was designed by Andon Tülbentciyan. The single naved church consists of a gavit, naos, chorus, gallery, dressing room, baptistery and balconies. The church is located in Samatya. It has been restored in 1957, 1992 and after the İstanbul earthquake in 1999. The thesis which aims to develop conservation measures for “Anarad Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church” consists of nine chapters. In the first part, the purpose, scope and the method of the study is explained. The formation of the Armenian Church and the divergence of the Armenian Catholic Church from the main church is discussed in the second section. The third chapter features the definition and emergence of the church as a building type, the evolution of Armenian architecture, the parts of the church and the characteristics of Armenian Catholic Churches in İstanbul. The fourth part focuses on the social and cultural structure of Armenians living in Istanbul during Byzantine, Ottoman and Republican eras. The fifth chapter, the location of Samatya district and its history are explained. In the sixth part, the location ot the Anarad Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church, its environment, history, spatial description, facade characteristics, materials used in its, construction, decorative elements, the damages occured in the building and the inappropriate interventions are discussed. In the seventh section, the changes which occured in the last century and the reconstitution problems are discussed. The old photographs and documents of the building are presented. In the eighth chapter, the restoration project aiming to conserve and restore the building is presented. At present the church is relatively good condition. The restoration project is developed by using traditional materials and construction techniques. Improper additions are removed in the restoration. Anarad Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church was built out of timber in 1839 in Samatya. As the timber church was ruined and demolished in time, it was rebuilt out of stone and it still exists. The foundation stone of the church in question was laid by Bishop Andon Hasun in September 1856. The stone church was designed by Andon Tülbentciyan, who studied architecture in Rome. The church is built on southeast – northwest direction. The structure is constructed according to neoclassical style. Main walls of the structure are built with ashlar stone on inwards and outwards facing surfaces. There are layers of plaster and paint on ashlar stone wall surfaces. The church is constructed in a yard with an irregular quadrangle plan. The main entrance to the yard area is through northwest façade. The front yard, which one can reach by passing through a double leaf iron gate, was originally covered with stone; however a large part of it, today, is covered with screed. The entrance area was designed as two separate levels. The entrance area – with preserved stone cladding - is covered with vault and measures 2 x 2.50 m. Through this entrance area, using a step, one can reach the front yard which measures 5. 70 x 8.17 m. In this area, the floor is covered xx with screed. From the front yard, eight steps will lead one to the level on which the church is based. There is a one floor tile structure at the northeast corner of the yard. It has two rooms along with a window facing northeast façade and a door opening towards the yard. The one direction inclined roof is covered with Marseille type tiles. Anarad Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church is constructed on an area of 294 m2 in total and measures 24.94 m x 16.72 m. The church is located within a yard on the southeast – northwest direction. The entrance to the structure is through the south-eastern wall. The ground floor constitutes of the entrance area of the church (gavit), naos, chorus, apsis, baptistery and dressing rooms. The gallery, for which one has to climb timber stairs from the gavit, and the balcony, which one can reach through dressing room and baptistery, are both located in the upper level of the church structure. Gavit leads one to the naos. The chorus area is raised 14 cm with a marble step from naos, which is identified as 0.00 level. Apsis is raised 46 cm with four marble steps from the chorus area, which is at +0.14 level. The entrance to the baptistery and the dressing room is through the two sides of the chorus area. If one is to have a closer look at the deterioration on the church, one will realize that there is no structural deterioration. However, there are material deteriorations due to time and inappropriate interventions by the user. There is surface wear on stone base of the plasters located on south-eastern façade of the structure due to blooming. On the steps of timber stairs in gavit (GF 01), leading to the gallery floor, there is deflection. There is deflection and chunking on timber stairs leading to northeast and southwest balconies. In the intersection point of southeast – northeast walls of the baptistery room, the timber ceiling covering took water and as a result there is rottening and chunking on the wooden material. In timber gallery (1F01), there is partial deflection on the flooring and chunking on the eight covering timber. There is chunking on some of the timber floor coverings of north-eastern balcony. There is deflection on northwest – southwest corner of southwest balcony timber flooring and on floor coverings between southeast – northwest walls. There is partial rottening and swelling on timber skirting of the north-eastern wall of the naos. Inner and outer wall surfaces of the church are plastered with cemented mixture and painted. There is a sink for washing hands in the corner of southwest – southeast walls of the dressing room. The cavetto vault ceiling of the northwest balcony has wooden covering. The electricity switchboard is located on the intersection of southeast – southwest walls of the baptistery room (GF 06), installation cables are left exposed on the wall surface. There are exposed cables connected to the loudspeakers on southwest and northeast walls of the chorus area. Screed is used on yard flooring. In the outdoors area, adjacent to the south-eastern wall of the baptistery room, there is a tile annex measuring 95 cm and 1.03 m, with a height of 1.55 m. This annex is used as a storage room for water installation. There are steel carriers adjacent to garden wall located on southwest direction. The efforts for building this annex due to the need for a meeting room within the church were in vain. Opposite of this metal annex, one floor tile structure was built adjacent to northeast garden wall of the yard. In the southeastern direction of the church, there are inappropriate user interventions on shops which border the yard as well. The original materials and size of the shop façades have been changed, in addition, there is deterioration on interior areas due to neglect and inappropriate interventions by the users. Within the scope of the restitution works, restitution problems of the church were addressed, a proposal for restitution was prepared and churches with similar characteristics in 19th century were analysed. xxi Verapohum Armenian Catholic Church, located in Büyükada (Prinkipo), was also designed by Andon Tülbentciyan, the architect of the Anarad Hığutyun Armenian Catholic Church which is the topic of the thesis. The similarity in façade characteristics of the two churches - both constructed with neoclassical style - is quite remarkable. The common features of the two churches are as follows: the circular window in the entrance façade, windows on lateral façades and iron gates in the entrance. Anarad Hığutyun Church has a cross-like sketch whereas Verapohum Church has a rectangular plan sketch. Both churches are single naved. Within the scope of the restoration project, prepared in line with analytical survey and restitution project, contemporary restoration techniques; namely reinforcement, completion, renovation and removal, are proposed. In the conservation project, preserving original details and construction techniques of the structure and ensuring that the restoration interventions are in accordance with the original material, detail and construction technique are the main principles. There is need for reinforcement in order to halt the surface wear on stone base of the plasters located on south-eastern façade of the structure. It is suggested to disinfect all timber structures with pesticide to fight against the problem of infestation in timber. Completion is proposed as a solution for stone and timber elements which have structural deterioration. It is required to remove the parts which have deflected and biologically deteriorated in timber floor coverings, timber stairs leading to the gallery and balconies and reinforce them with original material. Inappropriate interventions and additions in interior and outer areas of the structure will be removed. Timber, stone and marble surfaces will be cleaned where necessary. Cement plaster on wall façades will be scraped and upon an analysis in the laboratory, appropriate plaster mixture will be applied. There is no central heating system within the church; and the interior of the church is heated by electrical mobile heaters. Given the user needs and the utilization frequency, no mechanical installation is suggested for the church.Within the scope of this thesis, the reasons of settlement of Armenian public in Istanbul, the regions where there is dense Armenian population, Armenian population density in the historical process as well as Armenian activities in the fields of culture and architecture have been analysed. In that respect, the thesis has contributed in understanding not only the architectural activities of the Armenian society but also its social structure. Despite user interventions on the structure and deteriorations due to time are realized, the church is now in a pretty good condition. There is a community of the church and it still serves its original function. This study serves as documentation of this cultural asset built in 19th century neoclassical style and aims to contribute in preserving he structure for the sake of next generations. xxii