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44-600: The mosque is located in the Fatih district of Istanbul , Turkey , in the picturesque neighborhood of Vefa , and lies immediately to the south of the easternmost extant section of the aqueduct of Valens , and less than one km to the southeast of the Vefa Kilise Mosque . The first building on this site was a Roman bath , followed by a sixth-century (the dating was based on precise coin finds in stratigraphic excavation ) hall church with an apse laying up against

88-477: A cloisonné technique, with human and animal figures represented, is currently covered by a modern carpet. Fragments of coloured glass found here suggest that the windows were once filled with stained glass with figures of saints. Mosaics representing the apostles and the life of Christ were still visible - although defaced - in the 18th century. The imperial chapel is covered by barrel vaults and surmounted by two domes. The north church has only one dome, and

132-590: A chapel dedicated to Saint Michael , which became the imperial mausoleum ( heroon ) of the Komnenos and Palaiologos dynasties. Besides many other Byzantine dignitaries, the Emperor John II and his wife Eirene, and Empress Bertha of Sulzbach (also known as Eirene), the wife of Manuel I Komnenos , were buried here. During the period of Latin domination after the Fourth Crusade in 1204,

176-759: A collection of various cuisines (Syrian, Korean, Indian). Fatih is twinned with: Church of the Pantokrator (Constantinople) Zeyrek Mosque ( Turkish : Zeyrek Camii ) or the Monastery of the Pantokrator ( Greek : Μονή του Παντοκράτορος Χριστού ; Turkish : Pantokrator Manastırı ), is a large mosque on the Fazilet Street in the Zeyrek district of Fatih in Istanbul , overlooking

220-629: A fire in 1197. The church was surrounded by monastery buildings, which disappeared totally during the Ottoman period. After the Latin conquest of Constantinople , the building was used by the Crusaders as a Roman Catholic church, and partly officiated by Franciscan clergy. After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the church was assigned personally by Mehmed II to the Kalenderi sect of

264-461: A large portion of the middle-class residents have moved to the Anatolian side and other parts of the city. Fatih today is largely a working-class district, but being a previously wealthy area, it is well-resourced, with a more thoroughly established community than the newly built areas such as Bağcılar or Esenler to the west, which are almost entirely inhabited by post-1980s migrants who came to

308-496: A library and a hospital. After the death of his wife, shortly after 1134, Emperor John II Komnenos built another church to the north of the first one which was dedicated to the Theotokos Eleousa (Merciful Mother of God). This church was open to the population and served by a lay clergy. By 1136 at the latest a southern courtyard and an exonarthex were added to the complex, and the two shrines were connected with

352-488: A religious subject surviving in the city, and a cycle of frescoes of the thirteenth century (found in a chapel at the southeast corner of the building, and painted during the Latin domination) portraying the life of Saint Francis of Assisi . This is the oldest known representation of the saint, and may have been painted only a few years after his death in 1226. Both have now been detached and partially restored, and can be seen in

396-515: A result of which it was added to the UNESCO watchlist of endangered monuments. Extensive and sometimes controversial restoration has now been completed and the mosque reopened for prayer. The masonry has been partly built using the recessed brick technique typical of the Byzantine architecture of the middle period. In this technique, alternate courses of bricks are mounted behind the line of

440-1069: A separate municipality located at the tip of the peninsula, was once again remerged into Fatih because of its small population. Fatih is bordered by the Golden Horn to the north and the Sea of Marmara to the south, while the Western border is demarked by the Theodosian wall and the east by the Bosphorus Strait . Historic Byzantine districts encompassed by present-day Fatih include: Exokiónion , Aurelianae , Xerólophos , ta Eleuthérou , Helenianae , ta Dalmatoú , Sígma , Psamátheia , ta Katakalón , Paradeísion , ta Olympíou , ta Kýrou , Peghé , Rhéghion , ta Elebíchou , Leomákellon , ta Dexiokrátous , Petríon or Pétra , Phanàrion , Exi Mármara ( Altımermer ), Philopátion , Deúteron and Vlachernaí . The name "Fatih" comes from

484-437: Is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province , Turkey . Its area is 15 km , and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the courthouse. It encompasses the historical peninsula , coinciding with old Constantinople . In 2009, the district of Eminönü , which had been

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528-1096: Is a part of Fatih. Also, besides the headquarters, some main units of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality , including the city's fire department, are based in Fatih. Fatih has many historic and modern libraries, including the Edirnekapı Halk Kütüphanesi, Fener Rum Patrikhanesi Kütüphanesi ( the Library of the Patriarchate ), Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Halk Kütüphanesi, İstanbul University Library, İstanbul University Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi Kütüphanesi, İstanbul Üniversitesi Kardiyoloji Ensitütüsü Kütüphanesi, İstanbul Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Hulusi Behçet Kitaplığı, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi, Millet Kütüphanesi , Mizah Kütüphanesi, Murat Molla Halk Kütüphanesi, Ragıppaşa Kütüphanesi, and Yusufpaşa Halk Kütüphanesi. On

572-647: Is now Fatih district) during the magazine's existence. Today, there are still remnants of the sea walls along the Golden Horn and along the Marmara shore, to give a sense of the shape of the old walled city . There are also a number of important architectural structures in the Fatih district, including the Valens Aqueduct across the Atatürk Bulvarı, the fortress on the city walls at Yedikule ,

616-513: Is popular with members of a Naqshbandi Sufi order affiliated to Sheikh Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu . Conservative political parties always do well in this area. Küçükçekmece , Başakşehir , Bağcılar , Gaziosmanpaşa , Esenler , Bayrampaşa , Zeytinburnu , and Fatih are home to asylum seekers of Syrian origin. There are 57 neighbourhoods in Fatih District: The offices of the magazine Servet-i Fünun were in "Stamboul" (what

660-466: Is the largest. To the east it has an esonarthex , which was eventually extended right up to the imperial chapel. The church is surmounted by two domes, one over the naos and the other over the matroneum (a separate upper gallery for women) of the narthex . Once very rich, the decoration of the church has disappeared almost completely, bar some marble fragments in the presbyterium . The historical opus sectile floor made from coloured marble worked in

704-581: The Kizlar Ağası of the Topkapı Palace , built a mihrab , minbar and mahfil , completing the conversion of the building into a mosque. Ravaged by fire and damaged by earthquakes, the mosque was restored in 1855 and again between 1880 and 1890. It was abandoned in the 1930s, after the collapse of the minaret due to lightning, and the demolition of the Medrese. The conservation of the building dates from

748-534: The Aqueduct of Valens . Later – possibly in the seventh century – a much larger church was built to the south of the first church. A third church, which reused the sanctuary and the apse (later destroyed by the Ottomans) of the second one, can be dated to the end of the twelfth century, during the late Comnenian period. It may date to between 1197 and 1204, since Constantine Stilbes alluded to its destruction in

792-952: The Archaeological Museum of Istanbul . As a whole, the mosque of Kalenderhane represents – together with the Gül Mosque in Istanbul, the Church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki and the Church of the Dormition in ( Koimesis ) in Iznik (Nicaea), one of the main architectural examples of a domed Greek cross church from the Byzantine middle period . Fatih Fatih ( Turkish pronunciation: [ˈfaːtih] )

836-622: The Deaconesses ") or Christos ho Akatalēptos ("Christ the Inconceivable"), the discovery of a donor fresco in the southeastern chapel and of another fresco over the main entrance to the narthex both bearing the word "Kyriotissa" ( Greek for Enthroned ), makes it highly probable that the church was dedicated to the Theotokos Kyriotissa. The building has a central Greek Cross plan with deep barrel vaults over

880-592: The Dervish . The Dervishes used it as a zaviye and imaret (public kitchen), and the building has been known since as Kalenderhane ( Turkish : "The house of the Kalenderi" ). The Waqf (foundation) was endowed with several properties in Thrace , and many hamams in Istanbul and Galata . Some years later, Arpa Emini Mustafa Efendi built a Mektep (school) and a Medrese . In 1746, Hacı Beşir Ağa (d. 1747),

924-478: The Golden Horn . It is made up of two former Byzantine churches and a chapel joined together and represents the best example of Middle Byzantine architecture in Constantinople . After Hagia Sophia , it is the largest Byzantine religious edifice still standing in Istanbul. It is less than 1 km to the southeast of Eski Imaret Mosque , another Byzantine church that was turned into a mosque. East of

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968-630: The Ottoman emperor Fatih Sultan Mehmed (Mehmed the Conqueror or Mehmed II), and means "Conqueror" in Turkish , from Arabic . The Fatih Mosque built by Mehmed II is in this district, while his resting place is next to the mosque and is much visited. Fatih Mosque was built on the ruins of the Church of the Holy Apostles , destroyed by earthquakes and years of war. A large madrasa complex

1012-490: The 1960s, the area was covered with narrow streets of wooden buildings. Nowadays, the district is largely made up of narrow streets with tightly packed 5- or 6-floor apartment buildings. The confectioner Hafiz Mustafa 1864 was founded in 1864 by Hadji İsmail Hakkı Beyat what is today Hamidiye street in the district during the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz . At present, Fatih contains areas including Aksaray , Fındıkzade , Çapa , and Vatan Caddesi that are more cosmopolitan than

1056-451: The 1970s, when it was extensively restored and studied in a ten-year effort by Cecil L. Striker and Doğan Kuban , who restored its twelfth-century condition. Moreover, the minaret and the mihrab were rebuilt, which allowed the mosque to reopen for worship. The restoration also provided a solution to the problem of the dedication of the church: while before it was thought that the church was named after Theotokos tēs Diakonissēs ("Virgin of

1100-875: The Byzantine Palace of the Porphyrogenitus , the Roman column of Marcian , the Fethiye Cami (the former Byzantine church of Christ Pammakaristos), the Kariye Camii (the former Byzantine church of the Chora), Gül Camii (another former Byzantine church), Fenari Isa Camisi (a complex of two Byzantine churches), the Greek Patriarchate with the Church of St. George in the Fener district,

1144-481: The Byzantine churches of the middle and late period have survived. The interior decoration of the church, consisting of beautiful colored marble panels and moldings , and of elaborated icon frames, is largely extant. The building possesses two features which both represent a unicum in Istanbul: a mosaic , one meter square, representing the " Presentation of Christ ", which is the only pre-iconoclastic exemplar of

1188-772: The Church of St. Stephen ( "The Iron Church" ), the Yavuz Selim Camii, the House-Museum of Dimitrie Cantemir , and the Fatih Mosque itself. The tombs of some of the famous Ottoman sultans are in Fatih. These include Mehmed II 'the Conqueror' (Fatih Sultan Mehmed), Selim I (Yavuz Sultan Selim), Suleyman the Magnificent , and Abdul Hamid Khan , as well as other leading statesmen of the Ottoman Empire , including Gazi Osman Pasha . Fatih also has

1232-524: The Muslim conquest of the city in 1453. Shortly after the Fall of Constantinople the main church was converted into a mosque, while the monastery served for a while as a medrese . The Ottomans named it after Molla Zeyrek, a scholar who taught there. However, because of its importance to Byzantine history, Zeyrek was one of the few buildings of Constantinople whose old denomination was never forgotten and

1276-400: The arms, and is surmounted by a dome with 16 ribs. The structure has a typically middle Byzantine brickwork with alternating layers of brick and stone masonry. The entry is via an esonarthex and an exonarthex (added much later) in the west side. An upper gallery over the esonarthex, following the same plan of the one existing in the Church of the Pantokrator , was removed in 1854. Also

1320-399: The city and was very fond of Fatih. Many other mosques, schools, baths, and fountains in the area were built by military leaders and officials in the Ottoman court. From the 18th century onwards, Istanbul started to grow outside the walls, and then began the transformation of Fatih into the heavily residential district, dominated by concrete apartment housing, that it remains today. This process

1364-487: The city in desperate circumstances. Fatih was built with some degree of central planning by the municipality. Istanbul University which was founded in 1453 is in Fatih. In addition, since 1586, the Orthodox Christian Patriarchate of Constantinople has had its headquarters in the relatively modest Church of St. George in the Fener neighborhood of Fatih. Fatih has many theatres, including

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1408-578: The city walls became the major exit to Thrace , and this rejuvenated the neighbourhoods overlooking the Golden Horn. The Fatih Mosque was on the road to Edirnekapı and the Fatih district became the most populous area of the city in the early Ottoman period and in the 16th century more mosques and markets were built in this area, including: Iskender Pasha Mosque , once famous as a centre for the Naqshbandi order in Turkey); Hirka-i-Sharif Mosque, which houses

1452-616: The cloak of Muhammad (the mosque is in common use but the cloak is only on show during the month of Ramadan ; the Jerrahi Tekke ; The Sunbul Efendi Tekke and the Ramazan Efendi Tekke both in the Kocamustafapaşa district and the Vefa Kilise Mosque , originally a Byzantine church. The last four were named after the founders of various Sufi orders, and Sheikh Ebü’l Vefa in particular was of major importance in

1496-677: The complex fell into the hands of the Venetian clergy, and an icon of the Theotokos Hodegetria was housed here. The monastery was also used as an imperial palace by the last Latin Emperor , Baldwin . After the Palaiologan restoration the monastery was once again used by Orthodox monks. The most famous of them was Gennadius II Scholarius , who left the Pantokrator to become the first Patriarch of Constantinople after

1540-555: The complex is an Ottoman Konak which has been restored and opened as a restaurant and tea garden called Zeyrekhane. Between 1118 and 1124 the Byzantine Empress Irene of Hungary built a monastery on this site dedicated to Christ Pantokrator (Christ the Omnipotent). The monastery consisted of a church (which became the katholikon , or main church, of the monastery ) also dedicated to Christ Pantokrator,

1584-457: The conquest; markets grew up to support the thousands of workers involved in the building and to supply them with materials, and then to service the students in the seminary. The area quickly became a Turkish neighbourhood with a particularly pious character due to the seminary. Some of this piety has endured until today. Following the conquest, the Edirnekapı (meaning Edirne Gate ) gate in

1628-415: The conservative image which the district has in the eyes of many people. With Eminönü , which was again officially a part of the Fatih district until 1928, and with its historical Byzantine walls, conquered by Mehmed II, Fatih is the "real Istanbul" of the old times, before the recent enlargement of the city that began in the 19th century. The area has become more and more crowded from the 1960s onwards, and

1672-760: The famous Reşat Nuri Sahnesi. The area is well-served with a number of schools, hospitals and public amenities in general. A number of Istanbul's longest-established hospitals are in Fatih, including the Istanbul University teaching hospitals of Çapa and Cerrahpaşa , the Haseki Public Hospital, the Samatya Public Hospital, and the Vakıf Gureba Public Hospital. A tramway runs from the docks at Sirkeci , through Sultanahmet , and finally to Aksaray , which

1716-417: The north and south aisles along the nave were destroyed, possibly during the nineteenth century too. The tall triple arches connecting the aisles with the nave are now the lower windows of the church. The sanctuary is on the east side; however, the reconstructed mihrab and minbar are in a corner to obtain the proper alignment with Mecca . Two small chapels named prothesis and diakonikon , typical of

1760-414: The other hand, today Fatih is known as one of the most conservative religious areas of Istanbul because of the religious residents of the Çarşamba quarter which is essentially a very minor part of this historical district. Çarşamba is famous with bearded men in heavy coats, the traditional baggy ' shalwar ' trousers and Islamic turban ; while women dressed in full black gowns are a common sight as this area

1804-427: The wall in a mortar bed. The thickness of the mortar layers is about three times greater than that of the brick layers. The south and the north church are both cross-shaped with central domes and polygonal apses with seven sides rather than the five that had been typical in the Byzantine architecture of the previous century. The apses also feature triple lancet windows flanked by niches . The southern church

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1848-483: Was accelerated over the years by fires which destroyed whole neighbourhoods of wooden houses, and a major earthquake in 1766, which destroyed the Fatih Mosque and many of the surrounding buildings (subsequently rebuilt). Fires continued to ravage the old city, and the wide roads that run through the area today are a legacy of all that burning. There are few wooden buildings left in Fatih today, although right up until

1892-528: Was also built around the mosque. Immediately after the conquest, groups of Islamic scholars transformed the major churches of Hagia Sophia and the Pantocrator (today the Zeyrek Mosque ) into mosques, but the Fatih Mosque and its surrounding complex was the first purpose-built Islamic seminary within the city walls. The building of the mosque complex ensured that the area continued to thrive beyond

1936-465: Was written about by foreign visitors including the French traveller Pierre Gilles who described it in his book about Constantinople, written in the sixteenth century. After the completion of the medreses in the Fatih complex in 1471, Muslim students abandoned Zeyrek, and the rooms once occupied by the school vanished. By the early 21st century the edifice had become very rundown and partly ruinous as

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