Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos, was built as a monastery between the eleventh and the twelfth centuries, converted to a church, served as a Patriarchate Center Of Greek Orthodox and in 1591 converted into a mosque and known as Fethiye Mosque (Turkish: Fethiye Camii, "mosque of the conquest") and today partly a museum, is one of the most famous Byzantine churches in Istanbul, Turkey. The building has the largest amount of Byzantine mosaics after the Hagia Sophia and Chora Church in Istanbul. During the Ottoman period it was served as Greek Orthodox Patriarchate headquarters from 1456 to 1586.
In 1591, Murat III converted the church into a mosque, naming it "Fethiye" in memory of his conquest of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Today the building is a museum.
Most of the interior walls of the church were removed to create a large prayer space for the mosque, but most of the original architecture remains intact and 14th-century Byzantine mosaics have survived in the funerary chapel (parakklesion) added in 1315. The mosaics date from about 1320.
The complex, which was neglected, has been restored in 1949 by the Byzantine Institute of America which brought it back to its pristine splendor. While the main building remains a mosque, the parekklesion has since then been a museum.
The central dome of the parakklesion has a fine mosaic of Christ Pantocrator surrounded by prophets, each labeled with their Greek name and holding banners with Greek phrases.
On the right wall as one faces the apse, near the central dome, is a mosaic of the Baptism of Christ. In addition to Jesus and John the Baptist, the scene includes four angels, a man pouring out water, and a young figure inside a shell. Fish can be seen in the river water.
The apse bears a Deesis mosaic (Christ with the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist) and the chapel's dedicatory inscription: "The nun Marta gave the promise of salvation in the name of her husband, the victorious and deserving protostrator Michael Glabas Ducas." The vault above has mosaics of the Archangels Michael, Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel.
Useful Information
* The church is situated in the district Edirnekapi which lies in the western part of the city and it is a bit away from the historical part. Taxi ride cost you 20 Turkish lira about 20 minutes from Sultanahmet square.
*Open everyday except Wednesdays. April to October 09.00 am. to 07.00 pm, November to April 09.00am. to 05.00 pm.
*Entrance fee is 5 Turkish liras.
Book the tour for PAMMAKARISTOS CHURCH / FETHIYE MOSQUE
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