A Culture’s History Written in Thread
By SUSANNE FOWLER
Published: March 30, 2011
ISTANBUL – It began with a question 13 years ago from the owner of a
shop in the Grand Bazaar. The answer has led two American researchers
to conduct the first detailed study of rarely seen sacred treasures
belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul and to the creation
of an underground museum to house the priceless artifacts.
Textiles Reveal Women’s Unheralded Role in Armenian Church
In their 397-page book, `Splendor & Pageantry: Textile Treasures from
the Orthodox Churches of Istanbul,’ Ronald T. Marchese, Marlene R.
Breu and the Armenian Patriarchate expand what little was known about
the unheralded role of women in the church and colorfully record the
skills of women artisans who stitched their devotion onto luscious
silks and velvets.
The objects they studied, some more than 300 years old, include
sumptuously embroidered liturgical vestments, silk altar curtains,
velvet copes decorated with gold or silver threads and pearl-encrusted
miters, gathered from churches that served the Armenian population.
Common embroidery motifs included stars, birds, vine leaves and
angels, their faces sometimes sewn using human hair.
The museum itself houses such textiles as well as paintings and
objects of precious metals from Armenian churches throughout Turkey
which can be viewed, by appointment only, in the basement museum of
the patriarchate in the humble Kumkapi neighborhood of Istanbul. The
museum, created with donations from local Armenians and the European
Capital of Culture 2010 organization, sits atop centuries-old ruins,
discovered during renovations after the 1999 earthquake, that have
since become a chapel.
Mr. Marchese, a professor of ancient history and archaeology at the
University of Minnesota at Duluth, was conducting other research in
Turkey in 1998 `when a good Armenian friend that I have known for over
25 years, Mr. Murat Bilir, approached me one day to ask if I would be
interested in examining religious textiles at a church in the old
Armenian quarter.
`Mr. Bilir knew Payel Gulludere, the then-chairman of the board of
directors of the church, who wanted to know what was in the storage
depot and who made them,’ he said.
`The first piece I examined,’ Mr. Marchese said during an interview by
e-mail, `was a brilliant blue silk cloth, embroidered with an image of
Mary and the Christ Child.’ Impressed by the objects’ workmanship,
iconography and the dedication inscriptions, which helped to date the
textiles, Mr. Marchese contacted Ms. Breu, who examined the objects
the following year.
Then, with the blessing of Patriarch Mesrob II, the researchers began
to `record the brilliance of the material and put a `face’ on the
unknown artisans who created a phenomenal body of material culture,
from the monumental to the miniature,’ Mr. Marchese said.
Ms. Breu, retired professor of textile studies at Western Michigan
University in Kalamazoo, said during an e-mail interview that `what we
didn’t know at the outset was the great depth and breadth of the
material – brilliant artifacts of great historical and artistic value.
`Archbishop Aram Atesyan had already begun archiving the artifacts in
the various Armenian Orthodox Churches in the city. He became our
guide, teacher and good friend through the long and arduous process of
identifying, selecting, collecting, studying, photographing and
archiving.
`Our adventures,’ she said, `took us on ferries, buses, taxis and
hikes, often with frustration resulting from inadequate maps for
finding the churches on both the European and Asian sides of the city.
We visited treasuries, often in the far reaches of church buildings,
met church members, most of whom were excited to learn we were
studying their precious objects. Sometimes we had to leave behind
spectacular pieces because of our inability to gain access for a
variety of reasons.’ Some items, for example, were preserved behind
glass and could not be disturbed without damaging them.
The earlier pieces, Mr. Marchese said, `provide a link with an older
tradition that doesn’t survive except in examples expressed in more
concrete forms – like wall paintings, frescos, mosaics.’
`We were struck by the anatomical accuracy of the Crucifixion, the
stretched muscles of Christ depicted on the cross were accurate,’ he
said. `The artisan captured such scenes in a sensitive display of
emotion and passion – but in miniature’
According to Ms. Breu: `The most significant piece in terms of skill
level is a miter dated 1800.
`The embroiderer used a wide variety of yarn types and stitches,’ she
said. `The workmanship is so fine that the face of the centurion
watching in amazement at the resurrection of Christ is created in a
three-by-two-centimeter area,’ or six square centimeters, which is
less than one square inch.
`The face is executed in smooth silk floss offset against the heavier
textural quality of the surrounding metal, with detail so exacting as
to depict wrinkled skin and single strands of facial hair,’ Ms. Breu
added.
In another very detailed miter, Mary is framed with pearls as she
stands on a serpent with an apple in its mouth.
`I have always wondered what the women of this great geography were
doing as their men designed and built the magnificent monuments and
fought in the many wars waged on these lands,’ said Nancy Ozturk,
coordinator of Citlembik, which published the book. `And now a bit of
this puzzle has been solved.’
`The congregations, mostly illiterate at the time, `read’ the Gospel
stories through the images on the cloth and were awestruck – as we are
– by the richness of the silk cloth, the colorful embroidery and the
generous use of precious jewels,’ she said.
Ornate textiles are still being used in church services, often the
only place people could get glimpses of them. `But many are
irreplaceable,’ said Father Tatoul Anoushian during a recent tour of
the five-room museum. `The church established two girls’ schools in
the 1820s just for this kind of work. But unfortunately we haven’t got
anyone now with the skills needed to produce new ones.’
More than 70 churches served the Armenian Christian population of
Istanbul at the beginning of the 20th century, but only about 30
survive, the researchers say, as the cultural heart of a population
decimated by the genocide – a term disputed by Turkey – that began in
during World War I.
It is rare to find such a trove of cloth-based items that merit study.
`Textile objects, because of their ephemeral nature, do not last long,
especially when they are used, as they were in the Celebration of the
Divine Liturgy,’ Ms. Breu said. Many other examples were destroyed by
the many fires that plagued Istanbul and its wooden buildings over the
centuries.
`The importance of textile objects is often minimized because they
come from a tradition of `women’s work’ usually associated with the
home,’ Ms. Breu said. `But these objects illustrate the skill and
devotion of Armenian women to their church. It offered them a means of
self-expression in the public sector and of participation in their
religious rituals.’
Some of the more fascinating items include the oldest dated miter from
1681, another that lacks a date but is believed to be about a century
older, and a pair of liturgical slippers intricately adorned on the
soles with images of a scorpion and a snake, a sort of final barrier
between the priest and evil temptations. There are also tunic collars
for choir members, veils for covering the chalice, banners, crowns,
canopies, cases for patriarchal staffs, altar curtains and kerchiefs
for the handling of crosses.
`It was truly a labor of love,’ Ms. Breu said, `with the usual
difficulties and delights, but with immeasurable rewards.’
Not the least of these, she said, was adding to `the empowerment of
Istanbul Armenians to celebrate their important past.’
A version of this article appeared in print on March 31, 2011, in The
International Herald Tribune.
From: A. Papazian