Fenari Isa Mosque

Welcome to the Fatih district, situated in the valley of the Lycus River. Before you stands one of the most architecturally complex, confusing, and utterly fascinating buildings in all of Istanbul: the Fenari Isa Mosque. …

Let us begin our examination by focusing strictly on the northern, older half of the complex. This is the original church founded in nine hundred and seven by Constantine Lips, a highly influential patrician and admiral during…

Now, shift your attention to the larger, southern half of the building. We have jumped forward in time nearly four hundred years, to the late thirteenth century. …

Walk to the exact center of the complex, either inside or by observing the exterior roofline, and look for the 'seam'—the physical point where the thirteenth-century architects smashed their new building into the side of the…

Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in fourteen fifty-three, the Lips Monastery, with its royal tombs and dual churches, was largely abandoned and fell into ruin. It sat empty in the Lycus valley for nearly forty…

When you walk through the stark, white interior of the Fenari Isa Mosque today, it requires a tremendous leap of imagination to picture the breathtaking luxury of its Byzantine past. The austerity you see now is not just the…

Before leaving the complex, return to the southern ambulatory, the section built by Empress Theodora. Stand quietly before the deep, arched arcosolia built into the thick brick walls. …

As we step away from the confusing, captivating facade of the Fenari Isa Mosque, take one last look at its mismatched domes and contrasting brickwork. This building is not conventionally beautiful in the way a symmetrical,…