Formerly: Pantokrator Monastery
Native name: Zeyrek Camii
Zeyrek Mosque is a mosque consisting of two former Eastern Orthodox churches and a chapel . The buildings have the most typical example of architecture of the
Byzantine
middle period . It is located between Ibadethane Street , a back street of Atatturk Street on the direction of Fatih , and Ibadethane Arkasi Street . The large structure of the mosque dates back to 12th century . Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus (1118-1143) and his wife , Empress Irene built a monastery on the forth hill of the city overlooking the Golden Horn between 1118 and 1124 , that was consisting of a church , a hospital and a library , and dedicated it to Christ Pantokrator , hence the name of the monastery was called Pantokrator . After the death of his wife shortly after 1124 , Emperor John II Komnenos built another church ten meters north of the first and dedicated it to the Theotokos Eleousa ("the merciful") . Finally , the two churches were connected with a funerary chapel fitted in between , honoring St . Michael , where the emperor and empress were buried .
The monastery was used as a madrasa after the Ottoamn conquest of Constantinople , then it was converted to a mosque and named "Zeyrek"
, named after Molla Zeyrek Mehmed Efendi who was a resident of the neighborhood who taught at the madrasa . The mosque was repaired after being damaged by fire broke out in mid 18th century . The library of the building was burnt again in 1934 and the structure was totally abandoned by the 1950s . The structure was added to the UNESCO "100 Most Endangered Sites" in 2002 and during the recent years it underwent extensive (still unfinished) restoration .
