Arab Mosque Istanbul

This exceptional mosque is a reminder of this area’s distant past as it sits in a modern business district among many hardware stores.  The huge mosque is off Sırmılı Nafe Street and dates between 1323 and 1327 and has an unusual square bell tower with a spire.  Inside is an elongated space that instantly indicates the building was once a church.  

Dominican friars are believed to have built a church on the site of the earlier church of St. Paul, which is known to have been used by the Genoese community as from excavations carried out in the nave, Genoese tombstones were uncovered.  In the early 16th century, the Moors, who had been expelled from Spain, took over the church and this is how it came by its name.