Isa Kapi Mescidi (Monastery of Athanasios?)
Recently Th. Papazotos has suggested, based on textual evidence, that
this Palaiologan basilica be identified as the monastery of the
Patriarch Athanasios, rendering a date of ca. 1282-1289. As such it
would be the earliest Palaiologan church in the capital.
Situated on the gorunds of a hospital, the Isa Kapi has been
threatened by the hospital development, such as the cutting of an
emergency entrance to the morgue, which has weakened the foundations
to the south of the building. There has been some discussion of
restoring the building to be used as a library for the history of
medicine. The area in and around the Isa Kapi was cleared with a
bulldozer in 1993, destroying much archaeological evidence, and it is
presently off-limits to visitors. It would be interesting to know,
for example, where the columns (seen in the photo of the nave) were
found. Was the nave colonnaded or single-aisled?
