Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

CHURCH PATRIARCHAL CHURCH OF ST GEORGE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; St George in the Phanar; % 0212-531 9670; www.ec-patr.org; Sadrazam Ali Paşa Caddesi, Fener; h 8.30am-4.30pm; g 99, 99A, 99Y from Eminönü, 55T from Taksim) Dating from 1836, this church is part of the Greek Patriarchate compound. Inside the church are artefacts including Byzantine mosaics, religious relics and a wood-and-inlay patriarchal throne. The most eye-catching feature is an ornately carved wooden iconostasis (screen of icons) that was restored and lavishly gilded in 1994. The patriarchal throne is in the middle of the nave. Made of walnut inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl and coloured wood, it is thought to date from the last years of Byzantium. Other treasures include the 11th-century mosaic icon that is on the south wall to the right of the iconostasis. This shows the Virgin Mary holding and pointing to the Christ Child, and was originally created for the Byzantine church of Pammakaristos (now the Fethiye Museum). Look for the Column of Christ’s Flagellation in the southern corner of the nave. The church claims that this is a portion of the column to which Jesus Christ was bound and whipped by Roman soldiers before the Crucifixion. It The church was endowed by a nephew of Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologos and built between 1292 and 1294. The chapel was endowed by the benefactor’s wife (the inscription around Christ’s head at the base of the half dome reads ‘The nun Maria gave the promise of salvation in the name of her husband, the victorious and deserving protostrator Michael Glabas Ducas’) and dates from 1315. It was the seat of the Christian Orthodox Patriarchate from 1455 to 1587, after which time it was converted into a mosque and named Fethiye (Conquest) to commemorate Sultan Murat III’s victories in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Part of the building still functions as a mosque, while this part is a deconsecrated museum. In the paracclesion, the most impressive of the mosaics are the Pantokrator and 12 Prophets adorning the dome, and the Deesis (Christ with the Virgin and St John the Baptist) in the apse.