Ayvansaray is a picturesque neighbourhood in the municipality and district of

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 15,747 (2022). It is on the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( or ) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara, the waters of the ...

, between Balat and Eyüpsultan. It lies inside what was the walled city on Constantinople and later of İstanbul and corresponds to the old quarter of

Blachernae Blachernae () was a suburb in the northwestern section of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. It is the site of a water source and a number of prominent churches were built there, most notably the great Church of St. Mary of ...

(''Vlachérnai'' in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

). The name Ayvansaray comes from the Persian ایوان‌سرای (

Iwan An iwan (, , also as ''ivan'' or ''ivān''/''īvān'', , ) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projecting ...

+ Saray) and probably means "Veranda Palace", a name that hearkens back to the Palace of

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

(now lost), which was part of the complex of Blachernae. The Golden Horn ferry stops at Ayvansaray, linking it to

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

Karaköy Karaköy (), the modern name for the old Galata, is a commercial quarter in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus. Karaköy is one of the oldest and mo ...

, Kasımpaşa, Fener, Balat, Hasköy, Sütlüce and Eyüp. The T5 tram also skirts Ayvansaray, linking it to the bus terminal at Alibeyköy (with services to Anatolia) and to Cibali.

Attractions

Ayvansaray has a number of historic monuments including the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus ( Tekfur Palace), the

Mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

of Atik Mustafa Pasha (once thought to have been the medieval

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

church of Sts Peter and Mark), the Mosque of Kazasker İvaz Efendi and the small church of St. Mary of Blachernae which was built over an ayazma or holy spring. and has a particularly attractive garden. The remains of the great Theodosian Land Walls run down to the Golden Horn, enclosing Ayvansaray behind three huge polygonal towers. Just inside this stretch of the walls is the small cemetery attached to the shrine of Ebu Şeybet-ül Hudri; in it are buried several companions of the Prophet Mohammed as well as Toklu İbrahim Dede who is believed to have taken part in the battle to capture Constantinople from the Byzantines in 1453. During the WWI, the area suffered due to the British bombing of İstanbul in 1918.

Notes

References

* Neighbourhoods of Fatih Golden Horn Romani communities in Turkey {{Istanbul-geo-stub