One of the most famous mosques in Turkey, is located in the district of Çarşamba in the province of Fateh in the European section of Istanbul.
Al-Fatihiyah Mosque is considered one of the oldest Ottoman mosques that belong to the Byzantine architecture. It consists of one minaret, the walls of the mosque are built of stone and the Greek stone, and its exterior and interior walls contain the outstanding mosaics.
History of the Mosque of Fateh
This building was built as a church in the late 13th century by the Byzantine Mikhail Mikhael Glabas Tarkhaniotes, the nephew of the eighth emperor Mikhail Mikhael. After the conquest of Constantinople and by order of Sultan Mehmet al-Fatih, the Orthodox Patriarchate was transferred to it in 1455 AD. In 1595, after the conquest of Georgia and Azerbaijan, it was converted into a mosque to commemorate this conquest and was named the Fatihiyah Mosque. After converting it into a mosque, some sections of the church were demolished and an enclosed place covered with the dome that contained the mihrab was added, as well as the school and the school that surrounded the square from three sides.
The building was restored in 1845. In the early 20th century, a primary school was built and the courtyard wall was removed. Between 1936 and 1938, the mosque was restored by the Directorate of Awqaf and turned into a museum and its administration was assigned to the Directorate of Museums. In 1960, it was converted back to the mosque and restoration of the Byzantine tomb, which was located nearby by the Byzantine Institute, where he discovered artifacts and mosaics that were in the tomb.
