Abstract:

The work located within the boundaries of the Datça district of Muğla is the only church belonging to the Ottoman period in the Datça peninsula, which has been home to rich cultural assets from ancient times. In the process of development after the permission to rebuild the church to the minorities, which began with the 1774 Little Kaynarca Treaty in the Ottoman state, intensive construction activities have occurred in the areas where Christian minorities live in Anadolu. In these activities under the protection of the Ottoman princes, many old buildings have either been repaid or new churches have been built. The Datça Hızırşah Church, which is the only Ottoman church in the Datça Peninsula, located in the western point of Anadolu'nungüney from the buildings built in this scope, is the subject of our work. The building, which is thought to be built on a medieval church remains, is planned in the east-west direction with a single-deep straight. Although there is no book of the work with an inside half apartment added to the east front, and a seven-front asset from the outside, it is believed that in recent restoration work the 1890 history revealed on the naos wall may be the construction date.  The stone decoration in the northern entrance, the wall parts head in the naos and the stuko decorations in the naos walls and the pen work decorations in the naos' five-tonoz cover, form the decoration program of the structure. The restoration work carried out between 2015 and 2017 and the building that has its current status, is now served as the Hızırşah Culture House. In this study, the architectural and decorative characteristics of the Datça Hızırşah Church will be detailed; the place within the architecture of the Anatolian Church of the Ottoman era will be assessed in conjunction with similar examples.