Fethiye Mosque

About Fethiye Mosque

Former church, at present a mosque and museum in Istanbul

The Fethiye Mosque, originally the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos, the All-Blessed Mother of God, is one of the most famous Byzantine buildings in Istanbul, in the Carsamba neighbourhood of the Fatih district inside the old city walls. The church was built between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and a small side chapel (parekklesion) rich in mosaics was added around 1300; it is one of the most important examples of Palaiologan architecture in Constantinople and was the last building to house the Ecumenical Patriarchate before the Ottoman era. Sultan Murad III converted it in 1591 into a mosque named Fethiye, "of the conquest", to commemorate his victories in Georgia and Azerbaijan; the interior walls were opened up to enlarge the prayer hall, while the side chapel and its mosaics survived intact and in modern times became a museum holding the largest collection of Byzantine mosaics in Istanbul after Hagia Sophia and the Chora, including the Christ Pantocrator in its dome. In 2020 the whole building was declared a mosque and reopened for prayer, and the Byzantine mosaics and decoration were covered over, so nothing of them can be seen at present; from outside, however, the building with its domes and brickwork remains a fine example of late Byzantine architecture, in one of the most conservative and traditional quarters of Istanbul.

Where:

Istanbul, Türkiye