Kalenderhane Mosque ( Turkish : Kalenderhane Camii ) is a former Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul , Turkey , converted into a mosque by the Ottomans . With high probability the church was originally dedicated to the Theotokos Kyriotissa . The building is sometimes referred to as Kalender Haneh Jamissi and St. Mary Diaconissa. This building represents one among the few extant examples of a Byzantine church with domed Greek cross plan.
38-588: 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
76-409: A collection of various cuisines (Syrian, Korean, Indian). Fatih is twinned with: Nave The nave ( / n eɪ v / ) is the central part of a church , stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts , or in a church without transepts, to the chancel . When a church contains side aisles , as in a basilica -type building, the strict definition of
114-610: 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
152-456: 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
190-451: A public building for business transactions. It had a wide central area, with aisles separated by columns, and with windows near the ceiling. Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is an early church which had this form. It was built in the 4th century on the orders of Roman emperor Constantine I , and replaced in the 16th century. The nave, the main body of the building, is the section set apart for
228-484: 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
266-1041: 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
304-437: 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
342-1067: 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
380-622: 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 ,
418-504: 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
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#1732855103100456-576: 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
494-524: 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
532-904: 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] )
570-600: 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
608-578: 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),
646-608: 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
684-490: 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
722-451: 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
760-828: 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,
798-528: 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
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#1732855103100836-739: 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
874-454: 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
912-399: 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
950-474: 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
988-568: 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
1026-600: 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
1064-452: 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
1102-415: 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
1140-731: 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
1178-417: The keel shape of the vaulting of a church. In many Nordic and Baltic countries a model ship is commonly found hanging in the nave of a church, and in some languages the same word means both 'nave' and 'ship', as for instance Danish skib , Swedish skepp , Dutch schip or Spanish nave . The earliest churches were built when builders were familiar with the form of the Roman basilica ,
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1216-471: The laity, while the chancel is reserved for the clergy. In medieval churches the nave was separated from the chancel by the rood screen ; these, being elaborately decorated, were notable features in European churches from the 14th to the mid-16th century. Medieval naves were divided into bays, the repetition of form giving an effect of great length; and the vertical element of the nave was emphasized. During
1254-489: The nave by an arcade . If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave, the structure is sometimes said to have three naves. It provides the central approach to the high altar . The term nave is from navis , the Latin word for ship , an early Christian symbol of the Church as a whole, with a possible connection to the " Ship of St. Peter " or the Ark of Noah . The term may also have been suggested by
1292-417: 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
1330-414: 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
1368-444: The term "nave" is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy . The nave extends from the entry—which may have a separate vestibule (the narthex )—to the chancel and may be flanked by lower side-aisles separated from
1406-477: 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
1444-515: 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
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