site.btaBulgarian St Stephen's Church in Istanbul: 125-Year-Old Gem of Architecture and Faith

For 125 years now, a building of unusual design and beauty has been catching the eye of visitors in the heart of Istanbul. It houses the Bulgarian Church of St Stephen.

Permission to open the church was granted by a Firman issued on October 17, 1849, and the ground floor of the timber house was converted into a chapel, which was solemnly consecrated on October 9, 1849. Later on, this church was named St Stephen's, after the great Christian martyr and the donor's patron saint, and came to be known as the "Timber Church."

After Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878, building a new church in Constantinople was one of the prime concerns of the local Bulgarian community and of the first Bulgarian Government. Legend has it that at first the Sultan would not agree, but then relented, setting the condition that the church be completed in the space of one month - which is why the Bulgarians opted for the pre-cast metal structure. The other theory is that the idea was to have a "fire-proof" building, considering the risk of arson by ill-wishers. A Sultan's Firman, permitting the Exarchate to build a new church in the place of the Timber Church, was issued on June 25, 1890.

On April 27, 1892, Exarch Yossif I laid the foundation stone of the new St Stephen's, behind the old timber church which was pulled down (only the stone altar table of it now survives). The new church was started on new foundations. The swampy ground was consolidated by 650 Lebanese cedar poles, each 22 m long and 35 cm in diameter. In the upper part, they were linked by 25 cm long oak longrenes. Above, there was a groundwork of stone, sealed by concrete mortar. A second layer of longrenes was placed above the concrete, superimposed by a grillage which provided the ground level for the iron structure itself.

The design was commissioned by competition to Armenian architect Hovsep Aznavur. This well-known master produced a highly original solution. The church was to be built of prefabricated cast-iron and hammered-iron panels, weighing some 500 t altogether, magnificently executed by the Rudolf Philipp Waagner Company of Vienna.

The same engineers had manufactured two identical churches, which were supposed to be built in Australia and Romania. The first sank at sea while being transported, while the second church was destroyed during a bombing, thus leaving St Stephen's the only Eastern Orthodox iron church in the world.

The panels for St Stephen's were transported by sea in 150 small ships from Trieste to Constantinople and were assembled on site by 15 workers of the company between December 1895 and July 14, 1896, using 4 million nuts, bolts, rivets and weldings.

The solemn consecration, which drew Bulgarians from all over the Balkan Peninsula, was conducted on the Feast Day of the Nativity of the Virgin, September 8, 1898, by Exarch Yossif I.

In style, St Stephen's is a radical departure from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is a three-nave pseudo-basilica shaped as a Latin cross, with a broad transept and large Gothic windows (the stained glasses for them were not done for lack of money). The church is 32.5 m long, 12.5 m wide, and 29.5 m high, including the belfry. The sculptural ornamentation of the white exterior harmoniously combines floral motifs interwoven into garlands and angelic heads. Reliefs representing a bishop's mitre and two crossed crosiers are placed above the northern and southern entrances. The eclectic Neo-Gothic and Neo-Baroque architecture and ornamentation of the church is in the typical style of the 19th c.

The Bulgarian iron church of St Stephen's is one of few surviving cast iron churches in the world. Its iconostasis, also of metal, has exquisite ornaments combining scriptural scenes with floral motifs. That was actually the second iconostasis made for the church: the first one was returned to Vienna because, through the clients' oversight, it was executed in a Catholic style. Moscow industrialist Nikolay Alexeevich Akhapkin was then contracted to manufacture a new iconostasis, at the cost of 20,000 roubles.

The icons, fine examples of late 19th c. sacred painting, were done by Russian academic painter Klavdii Lebedev and masters from Debur. The two thrones, one for the monarch and the other for the church primate, flanking the altar, emphasize the grandeur and importance of their intended occupants. They are all covered in wood carvings and feature the ciphers of the then incumbent prince and exarch. One remarkable and untypical iconostasis icon is of the Virgin with Sts Cyril and Methodius, the inventors of the Slavonic script. St Petka, one of the most revered Bulgarian saints, is also beautifully painted. The six bells, of which the largest weighs 450 kg, were cast in the factory of Pyotr I. Olovyanishikov in Yaroslavl.

The church stands amidst a lush park with dozens of different kinds of trees and flowers. The three most prominent champions of the restoration of Bulgarian church independence: bishops Ilarion of Makariopol, Avksentii of Veles and Paissii of Plovdiv, are buried in the churchyard.

St Stephen's cost the Bulgarian Government some 1,000,000 gold leva to build (the exterior elements came at 700 gold leva each, and the interior elements, at 1,500 leva).

The church underwent several restorations, the first one in 1946, when the windows and the icons were repainted. In 1988 Austrian engineer Gilbert Wilpinger prepared a report according to which some parts needed rehabilitation. However, nothing was repaired until 1991, when the next restoration took place.

Following six years of a major restoration effort completed at the end of 2017, the church reopened solemnly on January 7, 2018 in the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The works, co-funded by Turkiye and Bulgaria with USD 3.5 million, engaged nearly 40 Turkish builders and conservationists.

The project's chief architect Fikriye Bulunmaz, master restorer Haluk Yozguder and project supervisor Deniz Kahraman share the credit for returning St Stephen's to its full glory.