Fatih (Conqueror) is
one of the largest and central
districts of
Istanbul,
Turkey, in the heart of the
city. Since it constitutes the
old quarter of the city that was
taken by Mehmed the Conqueror on
May 29, 1453, even today it is
also called the "real
Istanbul"
or the "first
Istanbul"
(previously, the district of
Eminonu at the tip of the
historic peninsula was also a
part of the Fatih district.
Today, the districts of Fatih
and Eminonu comprise the
historic peninsula up to the
Theodosian land walls at the
western end of the old city
center, i.e. the areas which
together constituted the
Byzantine capital
Constantinople.)
Fatih sits within the Roman
walls, is home to the Fatih
Mosque, the first
Ottoman imperial mosque in
Istanbul,
and the second prominent
Ottoman mosque in the city
after the
Eyüp Sultan Mosque which is
just outside the land walls,
near the Golden Horn. Since it
is the primary historical area
of the city, it contains some of
the most important historical
monuments in
Istanbul.
The
main road which cuts through
Fatih is Fevzi Pasa Caddesi,
which leads from the Beyazit
area (which was known as the
Forum Tauri in the Roman
period) up to the Theodosian
land walls. For a long time,
this was one of the main
arteries of the city. To the
right (as you come out of the
city) is the equally old Valens
Aqueduct from the Roman period,
built by the Roman emperor
Valens in the 4th century AD.
Due to the fact that the area is
elevated and has a commanding
view of both the Sea of Marmara
and of the Golden Horn, it is
easy to understand why the
Byzantines built a number of
palaces here, which were later
surrounded by crowded
neighbourhoods.
Furthermore, the hilltops of
Istanbul
have been crowned with religious
architecture ever since the city
was founded, and the area known
as Fatih contains some of these
hills; such as Constantine's
memorial on one of them, and the
Church of the Holy Apostles
dedicated to the 12 disciples of
Jesus (which in 1461 was
demolished by Mehmed II to make
way for the Fatih Mosque which
was built on its place.)
Finally, following the Fatih
Mosque complex, built on the
fourth hill, came many tombs and
mosques built in the memory of
the
Ottoman hierarchy.
Ottoman period
The
name "Fatih" comes from the
Ottoman emperor Fatih Sultan
Mehmed (Mehmed the Conqueror),
and means "Conqueror" in
Turkish, originally from Arabic.
The Fatih Mosque built by Mehmed
II is in this district, while
his resting place is next to the
mosque and is much visited. It
was on the ruins of the Church
of the Holy Apostles, destroyed
by earthquakes and years of war,
that the Fatih Mosque was built,
and around the mosque a large
prayer school.
Immediately after the conquest,
groups of Islamic scholars
transformed the major churches
of
Hagia Sophia and the
Pantocrator (today the Zeyrek
Mosque) into mosques, but the
Fatih Mosque and its surrounding
complex was the first
purpose-built Islamic seminary
within the city walls. The
building of the mosque complex
ensured that the area continued
to thrive beyond the conquest;
markets grew up to support the
thousands of workers involved in
the building and to supply them
with materials, and then to
service the students in the
seminary. The area quickly
became a Turkish neighbourhood
with a particularly pious
character due to the seminary.
Some of this piety has endured
until today.
Following the conquest, the
Edirnekapi (meaning
Edirne Gate) gate in the
city walls became the major exit
to
Thrace and this gave a whole
new lease of life to the
neighbourhoods overlooking the
Golden Horn. The Fatih Mosque
was on the road to
Edirnekapi and the Fatih
district became the most
populous area of the city in the
early
Ottoman period and in the
16th century more mosques and
markets were built in this area,
including: Iskender Pasha
Mosque, once famous as a centre
for the Naqshbandi order in
Turkey);
Hirka-i-Sharif Mosque, which
houses the cloak of the Prophet
Muhammad (The Mosque is in
common use but the cloak is only
on show during the month of
Ramadan; the Jerrahi Tekke; The
Sunbul Efendi Tekke and the
Ramazan Efendi Tekke both in the
Kocamustafapaşa district and the
Vefa Kilise Mosque, originally a
Byzantine church. The last
four were named after the
founders of various Sufi orders,
and Sheikh Ebü’l Vefa in
particular was of major
importance in the city and was
very fond of Fatih. Many other
mosques, schools, baths and
fountains in the area were built
by military leaders and
officials in the
Ottoman court.
From
the 18th century onwards
Istanbul
started to grow outside the
walls, and then began the
transformation of Fatih into the
mass of concrete apartment
buildings that we have today.
This process has been
accelerated over the years by
fires which destroyed whole
neighbourhoods of wooden houses,
and a major earthquake in 1766,
which destroyed the Fatih Mosque
and many of the surrounding
buildings, (which were
subsequently rebuilt). Fires
continued to ravage the old
city, and the wide roads that
run through the area today are a
legacy of all that burning.
There are few wooden buildings
left in Fatih today, although
right up until the 1960s the
area was covered with narrow
streets of wooden buildings.
Nowadays, the district is
largely made up of narrow
streets with tightly-packed 5-
or 6-floor apartment buildings.
