Fenari Isa Mosque

The place of worship is located on Adnan Menderes Boulevard, also known as Vatan Street, in the Fatih district of Istanbul. It is between the Fatih-Emniyet and Aksaray stops on the M1 line of the Istanbul Metro; It can also be easily reached from IETT's İskenderpaşa or Oğuzhan stops. ==History==

Byzantine period ) depicting Empress Aelia Eudocia as a Saint, 10th or 11th century, previously in the church, now in Istanbul Archaeological Museum. In 908, the Byzantine admiral Constantine Lips inaugurated a nunnery in the presence of the Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). The nunnery was dedicated to the Virgin Theotokos Panachrantos ("Immaculate Mother of God") in a place called "Merdosangaris" (), in the valley of the Lycus (the river of Constantinople). and used the tombstones of an ancient Roman cemetery. south of the first church. Several exponents of the imperial dynasty of the Palaiologos were buried there besides Theodora: her son Constantine, Empress Irene of Montferrat and her husband Emperor Andronikos II (r. 1282–1328). According to its typikon, the nunnery at that time hosted a total of 50 women and also a Xenon for laywomen with 15 beds attached. were added to the church. The custom of burying members of the imperial family in the complex continued in the 15th century with Anna, first wife of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos (r. 1425–1448), in 1417. The church was possibly used as a cemetery also after 1453. of Rumeli, and nephew of Molla Şemseddin Fenari, the complex was restored again in 1847/48. In this occasion also the columns of the south church were substituted with piers, and the balustrade parapets of the narthex were removed too. and was abandoned. During excavations performed in 1929, twenty-two sarcophagi have been found. and since then serves again as a mosque. ==Architecture and decoration==

North church The north church has an unusual quincuncial (cross-in-square) plan, and was one of the first shrines in Constantinople to adopt this plan, whose prototype is possibly the Nea Ekklesia ("New Church"), erected in Constantinople in the year 880, of which no remains are extant. During the Ottoman period the four columns have been replaced with two pointed arches which span the whole church. The dimensions of the north church are small: the naos is long and wide, and was sized according to the population living in the monastery at that time. The masonry of the northern church was erected by alternating courses of bricks and small rough stone blocks. In this technique, which is typical of the Byzantine architecture of the 10th century, the bricks sink in a thick bed of mortar. The building is topped by an Ottoman dome pierced by eight windows. South church The south church is a square room surmounted by a dome, and surrounded by two deambulatoria, an esonarthex and a parekklesion (added later). The north deambulatorium is the south parekklesion of the north church. This multiplication of spaces around the central part of the church, typical of late Palaiologian architecture, was motivated by the need for more space for tombs, monuments erected to benefactors of the church, etc. The central room is divided from the aisles by a triple arcade. During the mass the believers were confined in the deambulatoria, which were shallow and dark, and could barely see what happened in the central part of the church. The masonry is composed of alternated courses of bricks and stone, typical of late Byzantine architecture in Constantinople. The lush decoration of the south and of the main apses (the latter is heptagonal), is made of a triple order of niches, the middle order being alternated with triple windows. The bricks are arranged to form patterns like arches, hooks, Greek frets, sun crosses, swastikas and fans. Between these patterns are white and dark red bands, alternating one course of stone with two to five of bricks. This is the first appearance of this most important decorating aspect of Palaiologian architecture in Constantinople. The church has an exonarthex surmounted by a gallery, which was extended to reach also the north church. The parekklesion was erected alongside the southern side of the south church, and was connected with the esonarthex, so that the room surrounds the whole complex on the west and south side. Several marble sarcophagi are placed within it. As a whole, this complex represents a notable example of middle and late Byzantine Architecture in Istanbul. == Restorations ==

The building has undergone several restorational periods, starting from the Byzantine times. Since then, many changes have been implemented in the structure, and it carries a multilayered archaeological value. In the repair record dated 1898, it is written that the cracks in the surrounding, dome, and drum walls of the building were filled with pitch pine and cement to strengthen them, and that they were plastered with sand and linen mortar and painted. It is also learned from the documents that the stitching method was applied at that time using pitch pine and linen mortar to close the cracks that occurred in the walls of the building after the earthquake. Archaeological studies were carried out in 1929 in the building, which suffered a great fire in 1918. During these excavations, it was understood that the ground was raised by 80 cm during the Ottoman period, and many findings were found in this filled ground. The building was reopened as a mosque with the restoration carried out in 1960, and its minaret, which was demolished in 1942, was rebuilt in the following years. Due to the effect of Vatan St., which was opened to traffic in the 1950s, the building remained 2-3 meters below the road level. The roof of the building was damaged in 2000. The comprehensive restoration work, which started in 2012, finished in 2019. Building pathologies found during the 2012-2019 restorations, and their proposed interventions The 2012-2019 restorations were carried out after studying the previous repair interventions to the building. Addressing the decays and deteriorations, and providing proper solutions to these problems were among the goals of the restoration. In the section below, the mentioned pathologies are detailed further. Unskilled repair interventions The lower part of the narthex window on the north facade of the building has been partially covered with brick and cement-based plaster. In the south dome, instead of the stone jamb that has disappeared, a marble sill piece and a lintel have been created, and a different stone and brick, and cement-based integration have been made on top of it. There are unqualified braids on the edges of some of the lower rows of windows on the west facade and inside the arches on the north and south of the main entrance door. ==See also==