The Byzantine Gardens of the Patriarchate’s Theological School of Halki

Abstract

The research and the design focused at combining and enhancing the surrounding area of the school which is referred to as the “Lighthouse of Orthodoxy”. The project has been envisaged in such manner as to provide a spiritual link between the contemporary garden design and Byzantine heritage. This required exhaustive research, as the available information on garden design in the Byzantine era is fairly limited. Plantation which has survived the 40 years of disuse of the School’s closure will be enhanced by landscaping. New plants to be used in the project have been chosen accordingly to each of the species symbolic meaning in the scriptures (e.g. fig trees symbolise gentleness, vines symbolize calmness). Finally it is discussed the symbolic aspect of the garden design and its dual meaning and representation. The project was unveiled in a ceremony in the Holy Theological School of Halki, Istanbul, on September 1, 2013, in the presence of His-Holiness Enumerical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.