Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque

Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque Atik Mustafa Paşa Camii
The mosque viewed from southeast in a drawing of 1877, from A.G. Paspates' Byzantine topographical studies
Basic information
Location	Istanbul, Turkey
Geographic coordinates	41°02′18.96″N 28°56′38.40″E / 41.0386000°N 28.9440000°E / 41.0386000; 28.9440000
Affiliation	Sunni Islam
Country	Turkey
Year consecrated	Between 1509 and 1512
Architectural description
Architectural type	church with Greek cross plan
Architectural style	Byzantine
Completed	1059
Specifications
Minaret(s)	1
Materials	brick, stone

Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque (Turkish: Atik Mustafa Paşa Camii; also named Hazreti Cabir Camii) is a former Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul, converted into a mosque by the Ottomans. The dedication of the church is obscure. For a long time it has been identified with the church of Saints Peter and Mark, but without any proof. Now it seems more probable that the church is to be identified with Saint Thekla of the Palace of Blachernae (Greek: Άγία Θέκλα τοῦ Παλατίου τῶν Βλαχερνών, Hagia Thekla tou Palatiou tōn Vlakhernōn). The building belongs stylistically to the eleventh-twelfth century.

The building lies in the district of Fatih, in the neighborhood of Ayvansaray, in Çember Sokak. It lies a few hundred metres inside the walled city, at a short distance from the shore of the Golden Horn, at the foot of the sixth hill of Constantinople.

Towards the middle of the ninth century, Princess Thekla, eldest daughter of Emperor Theophilus enlarged a small oratory, dedicated to her patron saint and namesake, lying 150 metres (490 feet) east of the Church of Theotokos of the Blachernae. In 1059 on this site, Emperor Isaac I Komnenos built a larger church, as thanks for surviving a hunting accident. The church was famous for its beauty, and Anna Comnena writes that her mother, Anna Dalassena, used to go often and pray there. After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the building was heavily damaged during the earthquake of 1509, which destroyed the dome. Shortly after that, Kapicibaşi (and later Grand Vizier) Koca Mustafa Pasha, executed in 1512, repaired the damages and converted the church into a mosque. Up to the end of nineteenth century, a Hamam, placed 150 metres (490 feet) south of the building, also belonged to the mosque's foundation. In 1692, Şatir Hasan Ağa built a fountain in front of the mosque. In 1729, during the great Fire of Balat, the building was heavily damaged and repaired some years later. It was damaged again during the 1894 Istanbul earthquake, which destroyed the minaret, and reopened for worship in 1906. A last restoration occurred in 1922. In that occasion, a marble christening font was brought to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Inside the south apse of the building there is the türbe (tomb) attributed to Hazreti Cabir (Jabir) Ibn Abdallah-ül-Ensamı, one of the companions of Eyüp, fallen nearby in 678 during the first Arab siege of Constantinople.