The second biggest surviving Byzantine religious structure in Istanbul, the Christ Pantokrator church, is what connects these two people. That’s because this historical building is the Molla Zeyrek mosque now.
But let’s start from the beginning.
SHORT HISTORY OF CHRIST PANTOKRATOR CHURCH
The Christ Pantokrator church consists of two churches and the imperial chapel joint together. The Byzantine Empress Eirene, the wife of the Emperor John II Komnenos, started construction of the monastery in 1118, to house poor, sick and suffering people. She died in 1124 and, after her death, the Emperor continued with construction and completed the whole complex in 1136.
The Fourth Crusade occupied Constantinople between 1204 and 1261. At that time, the Pantokrator monastery was the Venetian headquarters.
After the reconquest of Constantinople by the Byzantines in 1261, the monastery was given back to Orthodox monks. It functioned as the Christian Orthodox religious temple for additional two centuries.
Constantinople fell to the invading Ottoman army in 1453. Fatih Sultan Mehmed converted the Christ Pantokrator church into a mosque right after the conquest.
So, this is the point at which we meet Molla Zeyrek. Molla in Turkish means mullah. Molla Zeyrek worked in the newly established Islamic centre as one of the first teachers and that’s why the mosque carries his name.
ZEYREK MOSQUE
Despite the fact that I went to Istanbul many times in the past, I saw this Byzantine structure for the first time now. The building is the finest example of the middle period Byzantine religious architecture. But, that’s it.
Apart from this spectacular historical building, unfortunately there is nothing else from the Byzantine era that you can see there. The monastery complex has completely disappeared. The structure of the Christ Pantokrator church, which is now a functioning and beautiful mosque, is the only thing that remains.
You can see the interior of the mosque in these photos, it’ll give you a good idea how it looks inside. Unfortunately, you can’t see the opus sectile floor of the former church, as it’s completely covered by the carpet.
Interestingly, I was the only foreigner visiting the Zeyrek mosque. As you can also see, the mosque was completely empty. I’m saying this because, normally, the most popular attractions such as Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace are inundated with tourists.
Being the second biggest surviving Byzantine structure after Hagia Sophia, the former Christ Pantocrator church should be also on every visitor’s list. Although, you have to make a bit of an effort to get there, maybe that’s the reason why there wasn’t anyone else at the time of my visit.
One final thought, the Zeyrek Mosque would make a precious museum. But, that’ll most likely never happen, as it would mean that the mosque would seize to exist and all remaining Byzantine elements would have to be revealed.
At least, the building looks nicely restored and well preserved. I don’t even want to think how famous this edifice would be if it was still operating as a Christian Orthodox religious temple.
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