Photo by Niyazi Uğur Genca

St. Irini – Aya Irini Museum was used as a loot from war and a storage of arms for a long time. The first works of Damat Ahmet Fethi Pasha, one of Tophane field marshals, were displayed here in 1846 as the first examples displayed in a Turkish museum. In 1869 St. Irini received the name Muze-i Humayun (Empire Museum). In time the works displayed here were moved to the Tiled Kiosk in 1875 due to the shortage in places of exhibition.

From year 1908 Aya Irini was used as Military Museum. Then the structure which was vacant for a time was repaired and became a unit governed by St. Sophia Museum Management.

The Saint Antoine Church, one of the prominent Catholic Churches in Istanbul, was built in Neogothic style and Latin Cross shape with 20X50 m. The walls of the church were covered with mosaic tiles up until certain level and the outer facade of the building are made from bricks.

Photo By Niyazi Ugur Genca

The entrance of the church is on the main street between two apartments which were built to raise money for the church. It is entered to the courtyard from the entrance door and the width of the facade of the structure looking onto the Istiklal Steet is about 38 m.

The Saint Antoine Church is a beautiful sample of tolerance and religious acceptance and it is also one of the largest Catholic churches with the busiest congregation in Istanbul.

Photo by Niyazi Uğur Genca

After having permission from the state to build a church, first, they built a priest house called “Metoh” on Mürsel Paşa Street. According to the inscription on the house which has reached our time, it was completed in 1850. After the house was completed, a small wooden church was erected on the  site of the demolished church, where the current church is located, but later this was developed into a larger building covered with an iron frame. The construction plans were prepared by Hovsep Aznavur, an Armenian of Istanbul origin. An international competition was conducted to produce the prefabricated parts of the church. An Austrian firm, R. Ph. Wagner, won the competition. The prefabricated parts were produced in Vienna and transported to Istanbul by ship through the Danube and the Black Sea. After one and a half years work, it was completed and inaugurated in 1898.

The main skeleton of the prefabricated Stephan Church was made of steel and covered by metal boards and it looks like a cross. The architectural styles come from the Neo-Gothic and Neo-Baroque periods and the width of  the side naves is 3 m and the width of  middle nave is 6 m.  On the six bells in different dimension put  in the bell tower of the church are written statements that they had been moulded for Sveti Stefan Church in Russia.

After all, the church was rebuilt on September 6th, 1863 and opened to service of believers of Armenian and Assyrian people as a common sanctuary. In 1870, the church had a big damage in the fire of Istanbul and had been extensively restored and renovated in 1878.

It is also known as Surp Asdvadzadzin that the present old building of the church was demolished in 1961 and it was rebuilt by Assyrian and was opened to service in a special ceremony 1961.  It is seen a graceful example of stone workmanship of Mardin, a city located in the southeastern section of Turkey. Especially, heads of wreathed columns used in the church are also shown as the aesthetic examples of stone workmanship of Mardin city. In addition to the church building, there is an annex containing church school and administration section.

All stone building material of the church, which has a neogothic architectural style, was brought from Malta. The church which was closed in 1971 due to its decreasing congregation was re-opened under the leadership of a priest of  the Anglican Church by Sri Lankan refugees for religious use in 1991.