Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Istanbul

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes (Turkish: Notre Dame de Lourdes Gürcü Katolik Kilisesi; Georgian: სტამბოლის ქართველთა სავანე) is a historic parish of the Georgian Greek Catholic Church in the district of Bomonti of the Istanbul district of Şişli in Turkey. As of 2013, the church is still in use and remains one of the few Georgian Greek Catholic parishes in the world.[1]

Church of Our Lady of Lourdes
Notre Dame de Lourdes Gürcü Katolik Kilisesi
An image of the church in the 19th century
LocationIstanbul
CountryTurkey
DenominationGeorgian Greek Catholic Church
History
Founded1861
Founder(s)Peter Kharischirashvili
DedicationOur Lady of Lourdes
Architecture
StyleNeo-Gothic

History
Interior, circa late 19th century

It was built in 1861 at the initiative of the Catholic priest Peter Kharischirashvili, who wished to provide a rite for Catholics in the Georgian language,[1] but had little luck in Georgia itself. It was dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes in 1862 (after initially being dedicated to the Immaculate Conception), soon after the devotion was approved by the pope.[2] Along with the parish church, Kharischirashvili founded two monasteries: one for men and one for women. The monasteries and the church used the Georgian Byzantine rite from the beginning, but it wasn't approved by the pope until 1875.[2] The church was renovated in 1901. The library and archives founded by Kharischirashvili initially doubled as a Georgian-language printing press, publishing over 100 books on a variety of topics.[3] In the 1950s, up to 10,000 ethnic Georgians of the Catholic faith lived in Istanbul. After the Istanbul pogrom in 1955 under Adnan Menderes, many Georgians and other Christians emigrated from Turkey. Today the Georgian-Catholic community numbers only 200 to 250 people. As the number of Georgian Catholic Christians in Istanbul has declined, a large part of the church community today consists of ethnic Armenians and ethnic Turkish converts to the Catholic Faith.[1]

The church in 1898

See also

References
  1. Kaya, Önder (9 January 2013). "İstanbul'da GÜRCÜ Cemaati ve Katolik Gürcü kilisesi". Şalom Gazetesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2017-10-27.
  2. Natsvlishvili, Natia (2014). "Struggling for identity: Georgian Catholics and their monastery in Istanbul" (PDF). George Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation, Ilia State University. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  3. Hanson, Matt (2017-09-26). "The Spice of Faith: Georgian Life in Istanbul". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2023-10-10.


A blog post about the church with pictures

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