Around the Mosque of the Conqueror - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 249

ourselves back once again on the main avenue, Fevzi Paşa Caddesi.
We continue on across the avenue, taking the street which runs down
the hill past the west side of the medrese of Feyzullah Efendi; from
here we will stroll through the neighbourhood to the south and west
of Fatih Camii.
ISKENDER PAŞA CAMİİ
Proceeding downhill, we take the second turning on our right and
then one block along on our left we come upon an ancient mosque,
Iskender Paşa Camii. It is dated 1505, but it is not certain who the
founder was; he is thought to have been one of the vezirs of Beyazit
II who was governor of Bosnia. It is a simple dignified building with
a blind dome on pendentives resting on the walls; the three small
domes of the porch are supported on ancient columns with rather
worn Byzantine capitals. The şerefe of the minaret has an elaborately
stalactited corbel, but the curious decoration on top of the minaret
probably belongs to an eighteenth-century restoration. The mosque
has many characteristics in common with Bali Paşa Camii, which we
will see a little farther on along our itinerary; both are of about the
same date.
MONASTERY OF CONSTANTINE LIPS
Continuing on in the same direction we come at the next turning to
Halıcılar Caddesi, where we turn left and stroll downhill for a few
blocks. At the corner where it runs into the wide new Vatan Caddesi
is a large Byzantine church, called Fenari Isa Camii, or the Monastery
of Constantine Lips. The church has been investigated and partially
restored by the Byzantine Institute and what follows is a summary of
the conclusions reached.
This complicated building, constructed at diferent dates, consists
of two churches, with a double narthex and a side chapel; its original
structure had been profoundly altered in Ottoman times when it was
converted into a mosque. The first church on the site, the one to
the north, was dedicated in 907 to the Theotokos Panachrantos, the
Immaculate Mother of God, by Constantine Lips, a high functionary
at the courts of Leo the Wise and Constantine Porphyrogenitus. It