Conquest: The Apostles Remembered

This 1552 woodcut depicts the city after its Ottoman conquest. Its name roughly translates into "The shape of Constantinople today, inhabited by the Turks," hinting at the Western world's dim views towards Ottoman rule of the city.

 “The moment of lieux de mémoire,” writes Nora, “occurs at the same time that an immense and intimate fund of memory disappears, surviving only as a reconstituted object beneath the gaze of critical history” [1]. In this way, lieux de memoire can be defined as much by their absence as by their presence. This context helps us to evaluate the church’s eventual destruction at the hands of the Ottomans, and the ways in which its legacy has survived.

The 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople brought an end to the dynasty of Eastern Roman emperors memorialized by the church, leaving it without symbolic purpose. Bequeathed to the Greek Patriarchy, it was soon abandoned and demolished in 1462. Today, we can only guess at its form through depictions such as Mesarides’ and Buondelmonti’s. The church itself seems to have faded from popular consciousness, robbed of its identity as a nexus of imperial faith and power.

The Basilica of St. Marco's central dome was constructed in the early 12th century, likely in parallel with restoration efforts on the Church of the Holy Apostles.

However, elements of the Church of the Holy Apostles survive in the churches and structures of Byzantium’s successors. Venice—a historical rival of Byzantium’s—nevertheless copied several of its architectural elements for its Basilica of San Marco, as well as populating that basilica with relics and items looted from the fallen church. The San Marco central dome is descended from Byzantine architectural forms, as are its ceiling artworks [2]. Scholar Janna Israel argues that “[t]he translation of objects and architectural forms to the West aided in the construction of a more harmonious and seamless history between Venice and Byzantium” [3], creating a conscious lineage that co-opted the church’s former significance.

The historical symbolism of this transfer is significant. Despite the church’s disappearance, its essence survived as a “reconstituted object” elsewhere, as later regimes sought to channel the memory of Byzantine power for their own ends.