St. Terezia Church - Ankara - Episcopate of the Latin Catholic Church in Istanbul

Church of St. Terezia - Ankara

St. Tereza Latin Catholic Church is located on Kardeşler Street in the Ulus district of Ankara. The French College of St. Clement, under the direction of the Brothers of Christian Schools, was located here in 1915. This area was also close to the old Armenian neighborhood at the time.

In 1916, a great fire destroyed St. Clement's College and the entire neighborhood. Only a wall remained of the college. As a result of the great efforts of the priests who taught French at that time, the name of the brothers was given to the name of the street. Thus, the street became known as Kardeşler Street.

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In 1928, a building was constructed on the site of this former college, housing the French Embassy Chancery on the ground floor and a small chapel inside the Embassy hall on the first floor. In the first years, the French Consul lived here. Later, until 1962, he transferred his apartments to a small French school.

The most important part of the historic building of St. Tereza Church is the chapel on the first floor, all parts of which were restored in 2002.

The main mosaic is by the French artist Hervé Vital, who took a quote from the churches of Cappadocia. On the right side of the main mosaic are depicted two great kings, David, from whose descendants the Messiah is promised to come, and Solomon, the builder of the Holy Temple, pointing for us to look at Adam and Eve who, on the left, rise from the grave and reach for the hand of Jesus who calls them to the light of resurrection.

On the left is the Blessed Virgin with the Child Jesus in her arms, and on the right is Christ holding the Gospel in one hand and blessing it with the other. The very soft colors of these two mosaics are in complete harmony with the bright colors of the church. In front of each of the mosaics, a fixed candle holder accepts the small lights that accompany the hopes and prayers of the faithful.

At the heart of the cross, made by Madeleine Diener, is the mystery of the Eucharist. With two open fingers, the union of the two natures (God and man) with the body of the risen Jesus Christ is expressed, with the other three fingers, the Holy Trinity.

The capitals of the columns are decorated with 4 rams' heads to remember the Old Testament sacrifices, and the corners of the ceiling are decorated with bunches of wheat and grapes to remember the celebration of the New Testament sacrifice of bread and wine..

The light of the chapel is connected to the stained glass on the side of the columns. Six of these stained glass windows were made in Bordeaux in 1914 by D.P. Dagrant. They were formerly in the chapel of the French College of Izmit and were preserved in Kadıköy after the school closed in 1920. In 1952 they were installed in their current location. To complete the series, four other stained glass windows in the same style were made in Florence and installed in the church at the same time.