Notes on the Monuments of Turkish Thrace

Abstract

The following notes represent the results of two visits to Turkish Thrace made by the authors during the summers of 1987 and 1988. In 1987 we visited Edirne, Vize and Enez, as well as several Byzantine fortifications at other locations. We returned to Edirne, Vize and Enez in 1988, and in addition we explored the coastal region southwest of Tekirdaǧ. We encountered numerous monuments of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods in these areas that have not been subjected to scholarly scrutiny—at least not since the population exchange of 1922–3 dramatically altered the demographic picture of Thrace. Our purpose in presenting this information is not to provide the complete documentation for each site visited, nor to provide a complete listing of the historical monuments of the region. Rather, we would like to make the scholarly community aware of the unpublished or unstudied monuments of Thrace, as well as the possibilities for further research in the area.