Manastır Mosque is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 by the Ottomans

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. Neither archeological excavations nor medieval sources have made it possible to find a satisfactory answer as to its original dedication as a church. It is however possible that the small building was part of the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 monastery dedicated to the Holy Martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

s Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora

Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora

Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora are virgin martyrs venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. According to tradition, the three women were sisters from Bithynia in Asia Minor. They chose not to marry and to forsake the world. They found a home in a remote location and spent...

, or an annex of the nunnery of Kyra Martha . The edifice is a minor example of Byzantine architecture

Byzantine architecture

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...

 in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, and is important for historical reasons.

Location

The medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 structure lies in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, in the district of Fatih

Fatih

Fatih is a municipality and district in Istanbul, Turkey that encompasses most of the peninsula coinciding with historic Constantinople. In 2009, the district of Eminönü, formerly a separate municipality located at the tip of the peninsula, was merged into Fatih...

, in the neighborhood of Topkapı, on the south side of Turgut Özal Caddesi, about six hundred meters south east of the Topkapı Gate of the city walls

Walls of Constantinople

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great...

. The building can be easily reached from the center by the T1 Tram.

History

The origin of this building, which lies on the seventh hill of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, is unclear. As its Turkish name suggests, it is possible that it was a small chapel belonging to a monastery, possibly that dedicated to the Holy Martyr

Martyr

A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...

s Menodora, Metrodora, and Nymphodora, which existed near the Gate of St. Romanus (today Topkapı, in Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 “Gate of the gun”), in the neighborhood of Constantinople named ta Elebichou. In the first half of the 14th century, a certain Phokas Maroulas, domestikos of the imperial table

Epi tes trapezes

The epi tēs trapezēs was a Byzantine court post, responsible for the imperial banquets.-History:The office, more fully known as the domestikos tēs basilikēs trapezēs , epi tēs basilikēs trapezēs or epi tēs trapezēs tou despotou , is first mentioned as extant...

, restored the church and dedicated it to the Theotokos

Theotokos

Theotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God...

, founding a small monastery.
According to another hypothesis, the small building could be an annex of the monastery of Kyra Martha. This was founded in 1268 by Maria, sister of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos

Michael VIII Palaiologos

Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...

. As a widow, she took the vows

Simple vow

In Roman Catholic canon law, a simple vow is any vow, public or private, individual or collective, concerned with an action or with abstaining from an action, if that vow has not been recognized by the Church as a solemn vow....

 taking the name of Martha and founded the nunnery which bore her new name. The monastery became a personal possession of the Palaiologoi.

Shortly after the Fall of Constantinople

Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...

, Mustafa, a çavuş (page

Page (servant)

A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...

) of Sultan Mehmed II

Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...

, converted the building into a mescit (oratory). During the years 1956–58 the buildings cluttering around the small mosque were torn down during the opening of Turgut Özal Caddesi, and since then its usage as worship place ceased. It is now incorporated into the wall which protects one of Istanbul’s bus garages, and, due to its position, it cannot be visited without written permission from the bus company.

Description

Due to its small dimensions, the building cannot be identified as a church, but rather as an oratory belonging to a monastery. The edifice has a rectangular shape, and nowadays has a single nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 with three projecting apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

s to the east and a narthex

Narthex

The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...

 to the west. The interior decoration has, for the most part, not survived. Only two hammered carved capitals

Capital (architecture)

In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...

, part of the triple arcade between the narthex and the naos, are still in place. The roof and the windows have also been modified. Excavations during the 1960s have shown that the building's original plan was more complex. The small church had three naves (possibly surmounted by a dome) and a tripartite bema

Bema

The Bema means a raised platform...

. On the west side lay an exonarthex topped by a vault, while in the south side a small chapel with esonarthexes on three sides was built. Based on its masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

 and plan, the building can be dated to the late eleventh century, although according to other scholars) the brickwork

Brickwork

Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar to build up brick structures such as walls. Brickwork is also used to finish corners, door, and window openings, etc...

 texture could also stem from the Palaiologan age (13th–15th century).

Sources