Unique Church in the World: The Iron Church
The story of Sveti Stevan Church being known as the Iron Church all over the world is as follows...
Bulgarians living in Istanbul separated from the Greek Patriarchate in the 19th century. They decided to build a church where they could hold services in their own language and according to their own traditions. In 1849, Stefan Vogoridis, one of the leaders of the Bulgarian community in the Ottoman Empire and a member of parliament at the time, obtained permission from the Bâb-ı Âli to build a church. For the construction of the church, he donated three buildings, two masonry and one wooden, and his 25-room house with a large courtyard.
At the end of 10 years, the Bulgarians, who were excommunicated from the Greek Patriarchate, wanted to build a more imposing church and conveyed the situation to the Sultan. Although Sultan Abdülaziz, the innovative sultan of the period, saw this idea as a progressive idea; he did not want to cast a shadow on his relations with the Greek Patriarchate. However, proposals to the great Ottoman Sultan were not easily rejected. Because Ottoman edicts always recognise one more right. Sultan Abdülaziz sent a message to the Bulgarians. He accepts this offer if the church is built within 3 months. Although the young Bulgarians thought that this would not be possible under the conditions of the period, they accepted the sultan's request.
And the Eiffel Tower, the giant work of the world metal industry, inspired Hovsep Aznavur. Hovsep Aznavur, the architect of Sveti Stefan Bulgarian Church, built many important architectural works in the 19th century and left unique architectural stories to Istanbul. Apart from the Iron Church, the Mısır Apartment Building in Galatasaray, the historical Sanasaryan Han in Sirkeci, the Cibali Tobacco Factory where Kadir Has University operates today, and the Abbas Hilmi Pasha Mansion in Heybeliada are among the works of Hovsep Aznavur.
Hovsep Aznavur finalises the plan and the project comes to life. This 500 tonne giant structure reaches the Golden Horn via the Black Sea in pieces. The church was stabilised with more than 300 giant piles brought from Brazil, which can survive in water. The whole building is planned and designed down to the smallest detail like a mathematical problem, manufactured piece by piece in factories, and must be erected in a certain order without any problems. There must not be the slightest measurement error in this process. In fact, these processes must be carried out almost as precisely as the assembly of a watch, and so it is.
Sultan Abdülaziz, who could not hide his astonishment, kept his promise. Since other examples in the world have not survived to the present day, the Iron Church has a unique architecture in the world. The architectural structure of the Bulgarian Church of Sveti Stefan, made of iron, was repaired due to some wear and tear it had suffered in the intervening period.
After 7 years of renovation, the church was inaugurated in January 2018 with the participation of the Presidents of Bulgaria and Turkey. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Vasil Liaze, President of the Bulgarian Exarchate Orthodox Church Foundation, stated that there were three iron churches built in the world, in Argentina, Austria and Turkey, and that of these three iron churches built in history, only the one in Turkey survived, making the importance of the building even more evident. A promise made to ensure political balance, the innovative solutions of the Bulgarians, the intelligence of Aznavur and the wind of the metal industry in the world architecture have brought such a giant work to our day together with its story.