BYZANTINE RELIC GOES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20366, 21 September 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

BYZANTINE RELIC GOES.

" GEM OF ARCHITECTURE."

HOUSE-BREAKERS AT WORK.

DOOM OF AN ANCIENT CHURCH

Situated amid picturesque surroundings on tho BOuthern bank of the Golden Horn, one of the oldest, though smaller, Byzantine churches in Constantinople has just # fallen a prey to the pick and shove! of tho municipal house-breakers. Erected close upon 15 centuries ago by tho Emperor Justinian, tho Church of Saint Checla owed its naino to tho eldor daughter of the Emperor Theophilus, a worthy and pious woman, so history, relates, who, toward the middle of tho ninth century, among other good works for which she' was eventually canonised, restored the dilapidated fabric of this little gem of Byzantine architecture to its original condition. In a railed-off enclosure adjacent to the demolished building repose to day the ashes of some of the defenders of Byzantium, who fell in vainly endeavouring to stem the onrush of the* Ottoman

hordes under Mohammed tho Conqueror when he finally captured the city. And now, amid the protests of local archeological circles, and to the regret of Christian and Moslem alike, this irreplacable relic of a bygono age has been razed off the face of the earth. There is hero no question of old-time fanatical rancour, or of latter-day religious apathy, but merely one of gross departmental carelessness.

An order received from Angora not long ago enjoined on tho local authorities the task of demolishing certain of tho smaller Constantinople mosques. The local authorities themselves added to the list tho " Mcsdjid" of Toclou Ibrahim Dede as being redundant to local requirements, entirely losing sight of tho historical and architectural importance attaching to it.

Tlio municipal demolition party have carried out their task so thoroughly that any hope of even a partial restoration of this little old-world edifice is out of the question.