Silent Witnesses of the Sacred Region: Findings and Evaluations About Ottoman Period Non-Muslim Places of Worship in Trabzon-Hamsiköy

Abstract

Trabzon-Değirmendere Valley is the third holy place for the Orthodox after Jerusalem and Hagion Oros (the Holy mountain). This study intends, through a field work, to trace and document the places of worship built by non-Muslims in Hamsiköy Valley, which is a branch of Değirmendere Valley that had the densest non-Muslim population, not included in the current literature or not made subject to comprehensive determinations and analyses.On-site determination and documentation studies were carried out in the study by tracing down the Non-Muslim places of worship situated in Hamsiköy Valley. Coordinates of these buildings were established, measurements were conducted whether thebuilding/remnantwas existing, schematic plans were drawn and photographs were taken. Inventory forms were generated in accordance with the information obtained. The building/remnants were processed on maps and their locations/positions were documented and their interrelations and the topography of the area was exhibited.A total number of 47 non-Muslim worship places were identified in Hamsiköy Valley in the current literature. Only 14 of these 47 buildings were located during the land study and 19 more buildings that could not be matched with the 47 buildings in the literature were identified during the field work.Hamsiköy Valley which is a branch of Değirmendere Valley, extending from the center of Maçka to Zigana in the south defines the spatial boundaries of the research. While the beginning of the period in question commences with conquest of Trabzon by the Ottoman, the temporal boundary of the study is drawn by the 19th century when extensive rights were granted to non-Muslims and then Turkish-Greek population exchange that took in 1923.This study was conducted for tracing down the places of worship built by non-Muslims in the past in Hamsiköy Valley in Trabzon. These non-Muslim buildings, for which there is not enough information about their current situation despite references in the literature, were identified on site, their coordinates were determined, their sketches were drawn, photographed and taken into inventory.