Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
squat passages supporting low vaults, six rows of nine or 54 in all.
Towards the rear of the mosque we find the tombs of two sainted
martyrs, Abu Sufyan and Amiri Wahabi, both of whom are supposed
to have died in the first Arab siege of the city in the seventh century.
Their graves were revealed to a Nakşibendi dervish in a dream in
1640, whereupon Sultan Murat IV constructed a shrine on the site.
Then in 1757 the whole dungeon was converted into a mosque by
the Grand Vezir Köşe Mustafa Paşa.
CHURCH AND LİSE OF ST. BENOİT
Walking northward to Kemeraltı Caddesi, we see on the far side
of the avenue a tall medieval tower. This is all that remains of the
fifteenth-century church of St. Benoit. This church was founded by
the Benedictines in 1427 and later became the chapel of the French
ambassadors to the Sublime Porte, several of whom are buried there.
After being occupied by the Jesuits for several centuries, it was given
on the temporary dissolution of that order in 1773 to the Lazarists,
to whom it still belongs. In 1804 they established a school here which
is still ones of the best of the foreign lises in the city. Apart from its
original tower, the present church dates partly from 1732 (the nave
and south aisle) and partly from 1871 (the north aisle).
CHURCH OF ST. GREGORY
Somewhat farther along the avenue and on the opposite side of the
avenue stands the Armenian church of St. Gregory the Illuminator
(Surp Kirkor Lusavoriç). This was erected in 1958 after the original
church nearby had been demolished when the avenue was widened.
The new building is interesting as a replica of the famous church at
Echmiadzin, built in the seventh century and one of the masterpieces
of ancient Armenian architecture. The older church which was
pulled down was an early nineteenth-century structure of no great
architectural interest, but it contained some unusual tiles from the
Tekfur Saray kilns; these have been transferred to the crypt of the
present church.
Galata is a town of surprises and in particular shelters a large
number of Christian and other sects. For instance, if you go down
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