Changes After Construction
The building housed the patriarchal seat of the Armenian Catholics in the period 1850–1928.
In 1958, during road-widening works, a part of the building was expropriated and demolished.
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The church belongs to the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Turkey.
It is the first Armenian Catholic church built in Istanbul.
The building has a broad basilical plan; the central space is covered internally by a vault and semi-domes, and externally by a flat roof.
The entrance arrangement facing Kuyu Street was designed to create the effect of an “ancient temple”; at the entrance reached by stairs, six piers are connected to one another by an architrave.
On the projecting apse, within an architectural composition showing niches, there are figures representing Surp Tatyos and Surp Partoghemios; the small chapel with a minor apse beside the main apse is used as the baptistery.
There are five separate altars in the church; one of them is dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary, who is depicted with the Child Jesus, both with crowns on their heads.
Inside the building is the tomb of Emir Bashir Shihabi of Lebanon.
During the plague epidemic that occurred in the construction period, the icon of the Virgin Mary was carried through the streets on March 25; it is stated that after this event Sultan Mahmud II presented the church with a diamond gift, and that this tradition was associated with the “Day of the Dead” commemorations held after Easter.
