Underneath the blood red St Mary of the Mongols lies the burnt ruin of a church that served as the orthodox Patriarchate from 1586 until 1596 (41.030331,28.948256). It was the usual basilica type built without dome or towers as dictated by the Ottoman Empire. It was once attached to the palace of the rather interesting Cantacuzene family of Wallachia, which led to it being called Vlach Saray (Wallachian Palace). Or it might be that it is close to the Blachernae Palace and Ayazma – Vlachernae as it is written in Greek. A stone near the entrance has a two-headed eagle, the symbol of the Patriarchate. It was destroyed and rebuilt after fires in 1640 and 1728. After the blaze in 1976, there wasn’t the money to rebuild. Patriarch Bartholomew held a poignant service here in 2011.
Entrance is now through the same gate as the Metochion of Jerusalem.
The picture above shows the north side of the raised platform on which the church is built.
West front of the church and grounds
In July 2019, the church looks much as it has for the last 10 years with fences around announcing the danger and illegality of trespassing.
That massive plane tree at the church entrance is still thriving
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November 15th, 2014 at 8:44 am
[…] that the building was to become a mosque so the patriarchate moved down the hill to the Church of Theotokos Paramythia (Vlach Saray). The conversion to a mosque resulted in the walls between separate buildings and […]