Τα οθωμανικά μνημεία της Κηφισιάς
Part of : Αρχαιολογικά ανάλεκτα εξ Αθηνών ; Vol.39, No.1, 2006, pages 229-240
Issue:
Pages:
229-240
Parallel Title:
The ottoman monuments of Kiphisia
Section Title:
Σύμμεικτα
Author:
Abstract:
The settlement of Kiphisia developed considerably during the Turkish period as a local centre of Ottoman administration and above all as a summer country retreat used by the Ottoman Turks of Athens. After the Ottoman conquest (1456) it was the seat of the provincial administrative subdivision of Katadema, which extended over virtually the north-east part of Attica. Its rich springs of water and abundant vegetation made it a pole of attraction for the Turks, who retreated there for the hot Athenian summers. Many foreign travellers visited the area in search of traces of the historical presence of Herodes Atticus, and their writings preserve evidence for the appearance of the settlement in their day, with the large plane tree beneath which the Ottomans daydreamed and relaxed. Thanks to this special role, a number of buildings were erected there, the most important being the mosque, which was the only Moslem house of prayer in the villages of Attica.The Kiphisia mosque stood in what is now Platanou Square and was preserved until the 1890s, when it was demolished. Its form has been restored on the basis of an old measured drawing made by Anastasios Orlandos and two paintings by the Danish architects Chr. Hansen and H.C. Stilling. It consisted of a simple square room roofed with a dome that was carried on pendentives and had a tympanum that was octagonal onthe exterior. On the façade was a stoa with columns, and the minaret rose in the southwest corner. Inside was the mihrab, the niche facing Mecca, and the mibar, the pulpit for the prayer. The room was lit by two rows of windows. The architectural form of the mosque followed a simple type established for the first time in the Firuz Aga Câmii mosque in Constantinople in 1491, after which it was widely disseminated throughout the empire. The destroyed mosque of Kiphisia is dated to the years before 1667 on the basis of earlier references to it in literary sources.Next to the mosque was a fountain, which has also been destroyed, though its form is preserved in a drawing by Chr. Hansen. A wide ogee arch inscribed in a square formed a recess, with water flowing from its tympanum. Its construction appears to have been fairly meticulous, with large well-dressed blocks of stone. Fountains of this simple form dating from the Turkish period are to be found in many places in Greece. There is no evidence for the date of the Kiphisia fountain. It was probably contemporary with the mosque, since the existence of clean water was an essential element of Moslem worship.The Turkish travel-writer Evliya Celebi notes in 1667 that there were in Kiphisia another small house of prayer with no minaret, a seminary, a tekke, a hammam, a school, a hani and shops. Of these only the existence of the hammam is confirmed by later sources, though the site and form of it remain unknown, since it was demolished in the 1890s. Similarly, none of the country tower-houses maintained by well-to-do Turks for their summer holidays has been preserved. There is also evidence in the writings of foreign travellers for the existence of an Ottoman cemetery near the south entrance to the village, though no trace of this now survives.Despite their provincial character, the Ottoman buildings of Kiphisia would haveformed an interesting group which, had it survived, would have supplemented our knowledge of Ottoman architecture in Attica. Their demolition at the end of the 19th century is to be seen in the climate of the time, when the larger part of Hellenism still lived under Ottoman rule and every aspect of Greek life was coloured by unfulfilled national aims. Against this background, there was no place in the privileged suburb of Athenian high society for remains of the Ottoman period.
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Subject (LC):
Keywords:
οθωμανική περίοδος, Αθήνα
Notes:
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