Vefa Kilise Mosque
| Church-Mosque of Vefa Vefa Kilise Camii |
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The mosque (right) and the exonarthex (left) viewed from the south.
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°0′59″N 28°57′37″E / 41.01639°N 28.96028°E |
| Affiliation | Sunni Islam |
| Year consecrated | shortly after 1453 |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural type | church with cross-in-square plan |
| Architectural style | Middle Byzantine - Comnenian |
| Completed | 10th - 11th century |
| Specifications | |
| Minaret(s) | 1 |
| Materials | brick, stone |
Church-Mosque of Vefa (Turkish: Vefa Kilise Camii, meaning "the church mosque of Vefa", to distinguish it from the other kilise camiler of Istanbul: also known as Molla Gürani Camii after the name of his founder) is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans in Istanbul. The church was possibly dedicated to Hagios Theodoros (St. Theodore, in Greek: Ἄγιος Θεοδόρος ἑν τὰ Καρβουνάρια), but this dedication is far from certain. The complex represents one of the most important examples of Comnenian and Palaiologan architecture of Constantinople.
The building lies in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih, in the neighborhood of Vefa, less than one kilometer to the northwest of the other great Byzantine building in Vefa (the mosque of Kalenderhane), and a few hundred meters south of the Süleymaniye Mosque.
The origin of the building, which lies on the southern slope of the third hill of Constantinople, is not certain. The dedication to S. Theodore is based upon the identification of the surroundings with the Byzantine neighborhood of ta Karbounaria (the coal market), but this is not sure. On the site, rests of buildings of the 5th century have been found. Judging by its masonry, it was erected in the 10th or the 11th centuries. The dedication to Hagios Theodoros is also far from certain. In the first half of the 14th century a parekklesion was built along the church. During the Latin domination of Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade the edifice was used as a Roman Catholic church.
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Wikipedia