The Anatolian Churches Project: Examining Religious Material Culture in Ottoman Asia Minor

FAIN: RZ-50586-06

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (Galloway, NJ 08205-9441)
Tom Papademetriou (Project Director: November 2005 to June 2011)

The documentation and study of Greek Orthodox religious material culture created during Ottoman rule (1299-1923) in Anatolia. The Greek Orthodox churches located in present-day Turkey are a focus of the project. (36 months)

This project is a survey and study of religious material culture created by the Greek Orthodox community in Anatolia, or Asia Minor, during Ottoman rule (1299-1923). Focusing on Kayseri and Bursa, Turkey using archival, archaeological and GIS technology, this first comprehensive documentation and interpretation of these structures will shed light on the "lost communities" of Asia Minor. As examples of material culture, these structures reflect the community that built them, their economic and social status, community social needs, and relationship to the Ottoman state and Muslim community. Within the context of Ottoman history, new understandings of majority and minority relationships, i.e., between Muslims and Christians will result.