Formerly:
Constantine
Lips Monastery
Fenari Isa Mosque is located at the intersect place between Vatan Avenue and Halacilar Avenue , about ten minutes walking from Aksaray Square . The building was originally a former church during the
Byzantine
period and was turned into a mosque in Ottoman period .
The building consists of two former Eastern Orthodox churches . The south church was first converted into a small mosque In 1497-1498 , under the reign of Beyazid II , when a minaret was built in the southeast angle and also a mihrab in the apse was added as well . The mosque has its name after one of the head preachers of the madrasah whose name was Îsâ ("Jesus" in Arabic and Turkish) .
Fires burnt down the building in 1633 . When it was restored in 1636 , Grand
Vizier
Bayram Pasha who ordered the restoration works upgraded the building also to cami ("mosque") and converted the north church into a Tekke (a dervish lodge) . At that time , the columns of the north church were also substituted with piers , the mosaic decoration was removed and the two domes were also repaired . The restoration of the complex in 1847/48 , after a second fire , resulted in the columns
of the south church to be substituted also with piers . The last fire broke out in 1918 and caused wide damage to the building . It was abounded for long years after until 1960 when the mosque was restored and opened again to the public .
