Feeding In The Shadow of Holy Shrine: Ayasofya Soup Kitchen

Abstract

After the conquest of Istanbul, some buildings were added around Ayasofya in Ottoman period. One of these buildings is a soup kitchen which were built by I. Mahmud in the North of Ayasofya. Soup kitchen is a kind of building where students, staff, guests and poor people could get free meals. Soup kitchens are known since the early periods of the Ottoman Empire. These buildings don't contain any ornament due to the basic function. In the present day only 29 of these soup kitchens exist. In these examples only Ayasofya soup kitchen has some ornaments. These ornaments are mainly detected on the monumental courtyard gate and the entrance facade of refectory. In these examples which exist today, Ayasofya soup kitchen has also the highest dome. Image of people in the food line can be seen in only gravure portraying the front of Topkapı Palace. This gravure was painted by H. Bartlett in 1838. A building process of a second soup kitchen was started by I. Mahmud period and due to the his death, it was completed by his brother, which is located in Nuruosmaniye complex. The compartation between these two buildings indicates that Nuruosmaniye soup kitchen is more simple than Ayasofya example. The aim of this article is to discuss the reasons which seperate Ayasfoya soup kitchen from other Ottoman period soup kitchens.