Small Churches Turned Into Masjids

When the districts in which they were in were smaller, old churches and the remains of monasteries were inhabited by the Turks, these buildings were turned into masjids.

Some of them were destroyed in the earthquake of 1894 and in the last great fires and some were demolished, in the guise of development, for road widening. The most important of them are the following: the Manastir Masjid inside the Topkapı Bus Station, the Ese (or İsa) Kapısı or Ibrahim Paşa Masjid, which is now inside the Pathology Department of the Cerrahpaşa Hospital. This former church was turned into a masjid by Sinan the Architect which is now in a state of dilapidation.

The Sancaktar Hayreddin Masjid in the Samatya district, (which had been in a state of ruin since 1894) was rebuilt and restored. In the Ayvansaray district there was the Toklu lbrahim Dede Masjid, which was recently demolished to make way for a house, and in Zeyrek there is the Sheikh Süleyman Masjid, which is still open for worship.At the top of Alemdar Hill there was the Acem Ağa (or Lala Hayreddin) Masjid, formerly the 5th century Khalkoprateia Church, which was sold off lock, stock and barrel by the Pious Foundations Board in 1937. All that was left of it were its four walls, it is now used as a petrol storage facility. At Karagümrük there was the Odalar (or Kemankeş Mustafa Paşa) Masjid. After being badly damaged by fire in 1908, its stones were plundered for the building of shanty houses.

The Sekbanbaşı lbrahim Ağa Masjid was demolished when Atatürk Boulevard was built. However, the Kefeli Masjid at Karagümrük is still open for worship and in the same neighbourhood is the Kasım Ağa Masjid, destroyed except for two walls in the earthquake of 1894 and restored in the 1970's. In Laleli there was the Balaban Ağa Masjid, damaged by fire in 1909 then sold and demolished in 1931, and in the Çarşamba district is the Hirâmi Ahmed Paşa Masjid, which had been in a state of extreme dilapidation but was repaired and restored in the 1970's. In the Cibali district are the last remains of the Sinan Paşa Masjid and the last traces of the Sheikh Murad Masjid, which stood on the west bank of the Golden Horn, were lost forever in the last century.