Taksiyarhis Monument Museum

Three eras are stacked in the fabric of this church in Ayvalık's İsmetpaşa neighbourhood. Two inscriptions over its doorways date two of them, 1753 and 1844. Taksiyarhis is regarded as the first church of Ayvalık, and it is now visited as a monument museum attached to the Balıkesir Kuva-yi Milliye Museum.

History

The building is thought to have started in the 15th century as a modest church. In its second phase it grew into a two-storey basilica, a long hall divided into aisles, covered by three domes. A fresco above the bema, the raised sanctuary area, shows Paul and Peter offering the church to God, and the inscription of 1753 over the southern garden entrance belongs to the same phase. A second inscription, dated 1844, above the main doorway points to a third phase, when the church became a barrel-vaulted basilica whose upper supporting structure was made entirely of timber.

Earthquakes damaged the building at different times. Repairs altered the interior ornament, and the changes can still be read in the wall decoration and paintings. After 1927 it served for many years as a warehouse of the state tobacco monopoly, Tekel, and was then left empty. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism restored it in 2012 and opened it in 2013 as the Taksiyarhis Monument Museum.

Architecture

Three doors lead from the narthex, the entrance hall on the west front, into the three-aisled interior. In the central aisle stands an ambo, a pulpit, ornamented with a lion modelled in plaster relief and reached by a spiral stair. The iconostasis, the screen that divides the sanctuary from the nave, is of marble, with marble icons narrating the life of Christ, marble reliefs and gilded details. Beyond it lies the apse, the semicircular recess at the east end.

On the upper floor a wooden gallery in the shape of a U, with 16 windows, runs around the interior. This is the gynaikeion, the women's section. The interior decoration includes gold-leaf details, relief wall ornament, ceiling paintings of religious subjects and portraits of female saints painted on fish skin, along with icons of saints and angels and pictures of the life of Jesus.

Visiting

Hours and fees can change; check the museum page on muze.gov.tr. The MüzeKart is valid for Turkish citizens. The building stands in the centre of Ayvalık and can be reached by local transport.