The Seventh Hill - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 340

named Studius in 450, and is thus the oldest surviving church in the
city. In form it is a pure basilica with a single apse at the east end; it
is preceded by a narthex and an atrium. The narthex is divided into
three bays, of which the wider central one has a very beautiful portal
consisting of four columns in antis , with magnificent Corinthian
capitals supporting an elaborate entablature with richly sculptured
architrave, frieze and cornice. Two of the marble door-frames still
stand between the columns. From the narthex five doors lead into
the church, which is divided, in the traditional basilican style, into
a nave and side aisles by two rows of seven columns. Six of those on
the north side still stand; they are of verd antique, with capitals and
entablature as in the narthex. The nave ends in a single semicircular
apse where once rose the tiers of seats for the clergy and in front of
them the altar. Above the aisles and narthex ran galleries, the columns
of which supported a trussed timber roof. The interior was revetted
with marble and the upper parts decorated with mosaics. The floor
was also of mosaic or opus sectile, and of this some portions may still
be seen, although they are fast disappearing.
Nothing now remains of the monastery of the church, the Studion,
once the most famous and powerful institution of its kind in the
Byzantine Empire. This monastery first came into prominence in the
year 799, when the great abbot Theodore assumed direction of its
afairs. Inspired by Theodore's spiritual and intellectual leadership, the
Studion became a centre for the first renaissance of Byzantine culture
in the ninth century. Many monks of the Studion won renown as
composers of sacred hymns, painters of icons, and illuminators of
manuscripts. The Studion was particularly noted for its scholarship
and was active in the preservation and copying of ancient manuscripts.
The Emperor Isaac I Comnenus, who had studied there as a youth,
referred to it as “that glorious and illustrious school of virtue.” The
Studion continued as one of the spiritual and intellectual centres of
the Empire right up to the time of the Conquest. During the first half
of the fifteenth century the University of Constantinople was located
at the Studion, and during that period some of the greatest scholars
in the history of Byzantium taught and studied there. The Studion
survived the fall of Byzantium and continued to function for nearly