Around Beyazit and Sehzadebas - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 195

and twelfth century, when this type was predominant. But the most
attractive part of the building is the outer narthex with its façade.
Constructed of stone, brick and marble, its elaborate design and
decoration proclaim it at once as belonging to the last great flowering
of Byzantine architecture in the earlier fourteenth century. In the
south dome of the outer narthex there were some fine late mosaics of
the type of those at St. Saviour in Chora (Kariye Cami, see Chapter
14), but these have now almost vanished. The narthexes contain some
handsome columns, capitals and door-frames which appear to be re-
used material from an earlier building probably of the sixth century.
And if you climb up into the minaret you will see set into the parapet
of the şerefe the fine figure in low relief of a peacock, probably taken
from a Byzantine fountain that is known to have stood nearby.
Leaving Kilise Camii we turn left and then right onto a street that
we follow until we come to the rear of the medrese of Ekmekçizade
Ahmet Paşa, which we visited earlier. There we turn left on Kovacılar
Caddesi, which we follow for about 200 metres before returning
right on the first through street on the right. This leads through a
picturesque arched gateway under the Valens Aqueduct and out onto
a large open area on the other side. There we see another former
Byzantine church, this one of considerable interest.
KALENDERHANE CAMİİ
The church was converted into a mosque by Fatih under the name
Kalender Hane, since it was used as a tekke by the Kalender dervishes.
It was once identified as the Church of St. Mary Diaconissa, more
recently as that of St. Saviour Akataleptos, and now, as the result
of an archaeological study and restoration by Cecil L. Striker of
Dumbarton Oaks and Doğan Kuban of Istanbul Technical University,
as that of the Theotokos (Mother of God) Kyriotissa. The church is
cruciform in plan, with deep barrel vaults over the arms of the cross,
and a dome with 16 ribs over the centre. It originally had side aisles
communicating with the nave, and galleries over the two narthexes.
The building has proved to date, not from the ninth century, as was
formerly supposed, but to the late twelfth. It still preserves most of its
elaborate and beautiful marble revetment, making it one of the most