GREEK CHURCH OF ST. MARY OF MONGOLIA
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It is the only Orthodox church in Istanbul to have remained a permanent place of worship of the Greek community in Istanbul since Byzantine times. This would essentially be due to an imperial decree bearing the seal and tenra of Mehmed the Conqueror, granting a kind of perpetual concession and preventing the transformation of the church into a mosque. The church was probably founded after the liberation of the capital from Latin occupation in 1261 by Isaac Doucas, nephew of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII. There is still a fresco of the Last Judgment by the painter Modestos, who decorated the church in 1266. This church was dedicated to the Theotokos Panayiotissa (Our Lady Mother of God), and included a convent. Nevertheless, the history of the church is closely linked to that of Princess Maria Palaeologue from 1282 onwards. This princess had married the Mongolian khan in 1265 and lived at her court for more than fifteen years, converting them to Christianity. Back in Byzantium after her husband's murder in 1281, she retired to the convent. The fame of this sister, called Notre-Dame-des-Mongols, quickly made us forget the appellation of origin. The church is named after the Turkish name Kanlı Kilise (bloody church), with fairly violent fighting taking place in the immediate vicinity on the day of the capture of Constantinople. It is located on rue du Porte-Etendard, one of the flags of Mehmed the Conqueror who was killed on this climb.
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