The traces of the Franciscan priests in Istanbul date back to 1220. The first churches of the Franciscans were named as Sant'Antonio dei Cipressi in the walls of Istanbul and were under the patronage of the Byzantine emperors. During the conquest of Istanbul, the priests were killed or captured in 1453 because they were involved in the defence of the city and the church was annihilated.
In 1585, a Genoese widowed woman named Madame Clara Bertola donated a church and a neighbouring house to the priests who had to carry out religious ceremonies in secluded places for more than a century. In this church, there was a Virgin Mary icon dating from the Byzantine era and it was located in a place near the sea which is known as Mumhane in Galata today. Donator Madame Clara Bertola demanded the church to be named after her family surname, Draperis. This church was destroyed by the fire in 1660 and rebuilt in 1662. However, the church built in 1662 was also demolished because it was built without permission and the land was sold.
The unfortunate priests bought a land in the Quatre-Rues of Pera in 1678 with the help of benefactors and the church was moved to where it is now. The church had undergone five fires in total and the Mary's icon, the oldest work of the church, was rescued from all these fires. The present Santa Maria Church dates back to 1769; however, it was completely renewed in 1874 by an Austrian architect named Ludovico Seefelder. For a long time, it had been under the patronage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in 1919, it was succeeded by the Italian statewith all its institutions.
The building has a character that goes beyond any periodwith both its architecture and interior works of art. However, the features, which were conveyed to the 19th century Ottoman environment, are predominantly in the foreground. |