TheFatih Mosque (Turkish:Fatih Camii, "Conqueror's Mosque" inEnglish) is anOttoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in theFatih district ofIstanbul, Turkey. The original mosque was constructed between 1463 and 1470 on the site of theChurch of the Holy Apostles. Seriously damaged in the1766 earthquake, it was rebuilt in 1771 to a different design. It is named after the Ottoman sultanMehmed the Conqueror, known in Turkish asFatih Sultan Mehmed, whoconqueredConstantinople in 1453.

Fatih Mosque
Religion
Affiliation	Sunni Islam
Location
Location	Istanbul,Turkey
Location in theFatih district of Istanbul
Geographic coordinates	41°1′11″N28°56′59″E / 41.01972°N 28.94972°E /41.01972; 28.94972
Architecture
Architect(s)	Atik Sinan, Mimar Mehmet Tahir
Type	Mosque
Groundbreaking	1463
Completed	1771 (rebuilt after earthquake)
Specifications
Dome dia. (inner)	26 meters (85 ft)
Minaret(s)	2
Materials	granite,marble

TheSahn-ı Seman Medrese, once an important center for the study of theology, law, medicine, astronomy, physics and mathematics, formed part of the Fatih Mosque. It was founded by the Turkic astronomerAli Qushji who had been invited by Mehmed to his court in Istanbul.

The mosque complex was completely restored in 2009 and again ten years later. It reopened to worshippers in 2021.

The Fatih Mosque complex was a religious and social building of unprecedented size and complexity built in Istanbul between 1463 and 1470 by order ofMehmed II.^[1] The 4th-centuryChurch of the Holy Apostles was demolished to make way for the mosque. TheByzantine church had fallen into disrepair since theFourth Crusade. Even though it was thecathedral church of theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, theEcumenical Patriarch was not permitted to carry out essential repairs to the structure.^[1] The church was the burial place of numerousRoman emperors, includingConstantine the Great. Before the construction of the mosque, hissarcophagus had been placed in the middle of twelve other sarchophagi representing theTwelve Apostles, in the symbolic place ofChrist.^[2]

The Fatih Mosque was the first monumental project in the Ottoman imperial architectural tradition.^[1] It was built by theGreek architectAtik Sinan.^[3]

The original complex included eightmedreses, a library, a hospital (darüşşifa), a dervish inn (taphane),a caravanserai,^[4] a market, ahamam, a primary school (mektep) a public kitchen (imaret) for poor and a collection of 280 shops.^[5] Various tombs (türbes) were added at a later date. The original complex covered an almost square area of 325 metres (1,066 feet) extending along theGolden Horn side of Fevzi Paşa Caddesi.

The first mosque was badly damaged in the1509 earthquake.^[6] After that it was repaired, but was then damaged again by earthquakes in 1557 and 1754 and repaired yet again. It was then completely destroyed byan earthquake on 22 May 1766 when the main dome collapsed and the walls were irreparably damaged.

Commissioned by SultanMustafa III, the current mosque (designed on a completely different plan) was built between 1767 and 1771^[4] by the architectMehmet Tahir Ağa.^[6]

The first Fatih Mosque had one central dome supported by a single semi-dome of the same diameter on the qibla side and suspended on four arches. its dome was 26 meter in diameter.^[1] The secondBaroque mosque built after the 1766 earthquake had a square plan. It has one central dome supported by four semi-domes.^[1] Only the courtyard, main entrance portal and lower portions of the minarets survive from the original construction.

The present interior of the Fatih Mosque is essentially a copy of earlier designs invented bySinan re-used repeatedly by himself and his successors throughout Istanbul (this technique is emulative of the Hagia Sophia). The 26 meter diameter center dome is supported by four semi-domes on each axis supported by four large marble columns. There are twominarets each with twin galleries. Thecalligraphy within the mosque and themimbar exhibit aBaroque influence, but the white tiles lack the splendor of theİznik tiles used in other mosques such as theRüstem Pasha Mosque.

Themihrab survived from the original construction.^[1]

As with other imperial mosques in Istanbul, the Fatih Mosque was designed as akulliye, or complex with adjacent structures to service both religious and cultural needs.

To the north and south of the mosque are theSahn-ı Seman, eight great medreses, four on each side. These buildings are symmetrical, and each contains 18 cells for four students and adershane. Annexes behind the medrese itself were lost to road construction. The medreses provided for about a thousand students, making it a large university for its time.

The dervish inn, outside the southeast corner of the mosque precincts, has a courtyard supported by 16 different columns ofverd antique and granite, probably salvaged from the Church of the Holy Apostles.

Facing the dervish inn is the large Baroquetürbe of SultanMahmud II's mother,Nakşidil Sultan (1761-1817).

The graveyard beside the mosque contains the tombs (türbes) of SultanMehmed II and his consortGülbahar Hatun. Both were reconstructed after the earthquake. Thetürbe of the Conqueror has a lavishly decorated interior and is a popular site for official ceremonies. It was customary for new sultans to visit the tomb immediately after being invested with theSword of Osman atEyüp Sultan Mosque. Gulbahar'stürbe is more simple, with classic lines, and may closely resemble the original. The graveyard also contains the last resting places of many important state officials, including field marshalGazi Osman Pasha whose tomb was designed byKemaleddin Bey. The distinguished Ottoman scholar and university professorHalil İnalcık was buried here in 2016.

On one side of the mosque and connected to it is the domed Carullah Efendi Library which was built in 1724. One of its doors opens onto the street, while the other two open onto the inner courtyard of the mosque. The library is undergoing repairs, and the books are under protection at the Suleymaniye Library.

Thecaravanserai was repaired in the 1980s and combined with new shops to begin functioning as a workplace. The hospital, market, kitchens and hamam of the original complex have been lost.

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  Fatih Mosque west side
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  Fatih Mosque interior
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  Fatih Mosque ceiling
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  Fatih Mosque interior
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  Fatih Mosque Domes
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  Fatih Mosque decoration
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  Fatih Sultan Mosque fish eye
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  Fatih Mosque group
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  Fatih Mosque courtyard
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  Fatih Mosque courtyard

According to the Turkish historianMehmet Aga-Oglu, the mosque is a representation ofIslamic Persian medresse architecture and not Byzantine church architecture.^[7] This opinion is supported by other Turkish academics that state Ottoman architecture is an extension of "Near Eastern architectural tradition".^[7]

• List of mosques
• Ottoman architecture

• Babinger, Franz (1992) [1978].Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Bollingen Series 96. Translated from the German byRalph Manheim. Edited, with a preface, by William C. Hickman. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.ISBN 0-691-09900-6.OCLC 716361786.
• Cruikshank, Dan (1996).Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture. Architectural Press.ISBN 0-7506-2267-9.
• Freely, John (2000).Blue Guide Istanbul.W. W. Norton & Company.ISBN 0-393-32014-6.

• Images of the Fatih MosqueArchived 3 January 2022 at theWayback Machine
• Fatih Camii (Turkish)
• Over 90 pictures of the mosque and tombs