Changes After Construction
After the exarchate building in Ortaköy burned down, the Bulgarian Exarchate moved to a mansion in Şişli.
On 15 May 1907, a permit process was carried out in Şişli, near the Bulgarian Hospital, for the acquisition of land/buildings for the exarchate; the mansion still in use today was purchased for 20,000 liras, and the exarchate function continued in this building.
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The church belongs to the Bulgarian Exarchate Orthodox Church Foundation.
The building is also known as the “Bulgarian Exarchate Building.”
In the interior, the room of Exarch Yosif has been preserved in its original form; the imperial decree of Sultan Abdülaziz recognizing the Bulgarians as a separate Bulgarian church is kept in the building.
On the ceiling of the second floor, there are ceiling paintings attributed to Aivazovsky.
The complex is one of the structures associated with the religious and administrative center of the Bulgarian community in Istanbul.
