Çalışma konusu olan Oltu Rus Alay Kilisesi, Erzurum’un ilçesi olan Oltu’da Ruslar tarafından inşa ettirilmiştir. Kuzeydoğu Anadolu’da Erzincan, Erzurum ve Kars, yol güzergâhı üzerinde olmalarıyla tarihin hemen her döneminde önemli bir yer tutmuşlardır. Bu şehirlerin arasında kalan ve hem tedarik anlamında, hem de konaklamada ve pazarlamada Tercan, Aşkale, Pasinler, Horasan, Bayburt ve Oltu gibi ikincil öneme sahip merkezler de vardır. Oltu, Karadeniz Bölgesi’nden büyük merkezlere ticaretin yapılmasında üstlendiği köprü görevi ve coğrafi şartlarının elverişliliği sebebiyle diğer ikincil merkezlerden ziyadesiyle gelişim göstermiştir. Oltu bahsedilen bu sebeple tarihin hemen her döneminde ona hâkim olmak isteyenlerin mücadelesine maruz kalmıştır. 1877-1878 Osmanlı Rus Savaşı sonrasında savaş tazminatı olarak Rusların elinde kalan ve 1917’ye kadar Kars’a bağlanan Oltu’da, Ruslar tarafından bir de kilise inşa edilmiştir. İnşa edilen bu kilise, kaynaklarda genel bir ifadeyle 1877-1878 Osmanlı Rus Savaşı sonrasına, 19. yüzyıl sonlarına tarihlendirilmektedir. Bu çalışmada ise hem yerli ve yabancı literatürün taranmasıyla hem de plan, mimari ve süsleme özellikleriyle benzer örneklerle mukayeseler yapılmak suretiyle kilisenin 19. yüzyıl sonlarında değil, Rusların 20. yüzyıl başında başlattıkları alay kiliseleri projesi kapsamında inşa ettirildiğinin üzerinde durulmaktadır. Çalışmada Anadolu’da ve Anadolu dışında olmak üzere inşa edilen diğer Rus alay kiliselerinden bahsedilerek söz konusu kiliselerin üslup özellikleri de ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır.
This study examines the Oltu Russian Regimental Church, built by the Russians in Oltu, a district of Erzurum. Erzincan, Erzurum, and Kars in Northeastern Anatolia have been important in almost every period of history as they are on the route to. There are also centers of secondary importance in terms of supply, accommodation, and marketing, such as Tercan, Aşkale, Pasinler, Horasan, Bayburt, and Oltu, between these cities. Oltu has developed considerably from other secondary centers due to its role as a bridge in the trade from the Black Sea Region to the big centers and because of the favorable geographical conditions. For this reason, Oltu has been exposed to the fights of those who want to dominate in almost every period of history. The Russians also built a church in Oltu, which was in the hands of the Russians as war reparations after the 1877 and 1878 Ottoman-Russian War and was connected to Kars until 1917. This church is dated to the end of the 19th century, in other words, after the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877 and 1878. This church, which was built, is generally dated to the end of the 19th century, after the 1877 and 1878 Ottoman-Russian War. In this study, it is emphasized that the church was built within the scope of the “Regimental Churches Project” initiated by the Russians at the beginning of the twentieth century, not at the end of the nineteenth century, by making comparisons with similar examples in terms of plan, architecture, and ornamentation, as well as by scanning the domestic and foreign literature. On January 23, 1900, the Russians established a commission within the military ministry under the chairmanship of General of the Infantry, Count Tatischev, with the participation of the army high priest and clergy. In this commission, they decided to design a church to meet the army’s needs for places of worship and religious education. In this project, the desired church type should not be magnificent, and its decoration should be less. Therefore, it was a type that would not be economically burdensome. Architect Fyodor Mikhailovich Verjbitskiy designed this decision. The first example of the project is the Church of the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment in New Peterhof. With the approval of Verjbitskiy’s project by the commission mentioned above, a large and economical type of military church emerged, far from luxury and ornamentation. In the sources, it is stated that upon the approval of the churches in this project to be built in other regions dominated by the Russian Empire, a total of 1,100,000 rubles were allocated from the budget, 200,000 rubles in 1901, 450,000 in 1902, and 450,000 rubles in 1903. It is stated that 69 of the churches built between 1901 and 1917 within this project’s scope are known today. In the study, the stylistic features of these churches are pointed out with the Oltu Russian Regimental Church and other Russian Regimental Churches built in Anatolia and outside Anatolia. The Oltu Russian Regimental Church, discussed in this article, is located on Cumhuriyet Boulevard in Yusuf Ziya Bey Neighborhood, east of Oltu district center. The church, which was registered with the decision of Erzurum Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board Directorate dated 10.01.1977 and numbered 311, does not have any inscriptions on the date of construction. For this reason, in the dating of the church, an evaluation was made by considering the reconstruction activities of the Russians in the region at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.
