Fatih Mosque
The 6th-century Church of the Holy Apostles — burial place of Constantine the Great — was demolished on this spot so Mehmed the Conqueror could raise Ottoman Istanbul's first imperial monument.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Istanbul offline.
Built between 1463 and 1470, this was the opening statement of Ottoman imperial architecture. The building you see is actually a 1771 rebuild — the original was seriously damaged in the 1766 earthquake, so severely that it was rebuilt to an entirely different design. The original complex held 280 shops, eight medreses, a hospital, a caravanserai, a hamam, and a public kitchen — a self-contained city commissioned by one sultan.
What to look for
- The Sahn-ı Seman Medrese, founded by Turkic astronomer Ali Qushji at Mehmed's personal invitation — its curriculum covered medicine, astronomy, physics, and law
- The tomb of Mehmed II himself, the sultan who took Constantinople in 1453 and ordered the entire complex
- The courtyard scale: the original complex covered a roughly square 325-metre footprint, built by the Greek architect Atik Sinan
An active mosque that reopened in 2021 after restoration; cover shoulders, remove shoes, and avoid prayer times for a quieter visit.
Fatih Mosque is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Istanbul, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Istanbul pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Istanbul
- Hagia SophiaCompleted in 537, it held the title of world's largest church for over 500 years — then a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.
- Constantinople (Istanbul)One peninsula that served as the throne of four empires for sixteen centuries straight.
- Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)Ahmed I placed it directly opposite Hagia Sophia in 1609 and gave it six minarets — a deliberate challenge to the city's greatest building.
- Topkapı PalaceFor nearly four centuries, the sultans who ruled the Ottoman Empire lived and governed from here — until the court finally moved to Dolmabahçe in 1856.
- ByzantiumGreeks from Megara planted a colony here in the 7th century BC — and the name they gave it eventually became the word for an entire empire.
- Rams Park (Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex)Galatasaray's 53,978-seat fortress on the European side of Istanbul — and the second most eco-friendly stadium on the planet.