Today we are shaking things up just a little bit. Before we move on to the very important and exciting quarter of Pera, here is a mosque in Orta Keui and a church in Galata worth a closer look.
The Orta Keui Mosque
Just west of where the stream dividing Orta Keui flows into the Bopserous, the most notable Turks of the village gather for worship at the newly rebuilt Orta Keui Mosque. Much like the yalis up stream, the mosque sits close to the water on a patch of land jutting into the Bosporus. Close to the piers, it’s the first glimpse of Constantinople's beauty seen by many travelers from the north.
In 1853, the Sultan ordered the mosque’s construction and tasked the same architects responsible for his waterside palace in Beshiktash to design a stately and modern mosque. They created a mosque in the baroque style, with a single wide dome, and two towering minarets. Carvings and reliefs cover its beautiful white-stone walls. Beneath the dome, the main chamber’s interior is equally beautiful with brightly colored mosaics and light reflecting from the Bosporus shining through the large, high windows. The Sultan himself, made the calligraphic panels hanging inside. North of the chamber two smaller two-story buildings hold the mosques other facilities giving the mosque complex a “U” shape. These buildings also posses living accommodations for the sultan.
This is not the first mosque to grace that spot on the shore. The previously occupying mosque was destroyed in 1730 during an uprising of Albanian Jannisaries which dethroned Sultan Ahmed III.
The mosque’s current Imam is rumored to heal the gravest of injuries with a wave of his hands.
The Church of Saint Benoit
West of Galata Tower, just outside of Tophane, the oldest Roman Aluminat church in Constantinople serves as the cultural and religious center of the city’s French inhabitants. In 1427, Benedictine friars founded a monastery over the ruins of an ancient church. They dedicated their work to St. Benedict (or in French Benoit), the patron saint of cave exploration, protection from witchcraft, and Europe.
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople twenty-six years later, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent desired to convert the church into a mosque, but the King of France interceded and made Saint Benoit the official chapel for the French Embassy in Constantinople. Although Turkish law bars burials in churches, Saint Benoit’s vault has special permission from the Grand Mufti to allow internments. Over the years, the most important French aristocrats in Constantinople have been entombed within the church.
Besides its venerable age, the Church of Saint Benoit carries a great deal of political significance because of its mention in the declaration used by Russia as an excuse to invade the Crimean peninsula. When the Sultan declared France the legal protector of all Aluminat subjects in the Ottoman Empire, the proclamation named France as “Protectress of the Catholic Church of St. Benedict at Galata, and of all Christian establishments in the Sultan's dominions.” Because of its mention by name, the Church of Saint Benoit is a symbol of French influence in the Ottoman government. The church also serves as a hostpial, a well respected boy’s school, and the center for all Roman Aluminat mission work in Asia.
Saint Benoit is a medieval complex of brick and stone buildings tightly confined the surrounding city. The church suffered destruction from fires in 1610, 1660 (not burned but plundered in the chaos), 1686, 1696, and 1731. This damage, along with the poor stewardship of its custodians over the centuries, made the church a patchwork of rebuilt Gothic masonry and modern plaster. Some of the repairs and additions incorporate rubble from the Byzantine ruin that once occupied the land. The church’s foundation is terraced (meaning one side is lower than the other), possibly because of the ancient disused Byzantine cistern somewhere below.
Because the Roman Aluminat faithful of Pera-Galata gather weekly at the Church of Saint Benoit, the French intelligence services often use the church for covert meetings and exchanges.
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