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The Molla Fenari Isa Mosque (Molla Fenari İsa Camii) is located in the Fatih district of Istanbul. It sits along Adnan Menderes Boulevard a short walk from Aksaray.
Byzantine Beginnings
The mosque was originally the Byzantine Lips Monastery (Μονή του Λιβός). It was made up of two interconnected churches.
The first church was built as part of a nunnery in 908 by Constantine Lips (d. 917), a Byzantine admiral. It was dedicated to the Theotokos Panachrantos (Immaculate Mother of God / Παρθένα Θεοτόκο Παναχράντου) and the relics of St. Irene were stored there.
The second church was built to the south by Empress Theodora between 1286 and 1304. It was dedicated to St. John the Baptist (Eκκλησία του Αγίου Ιωάννου Προδρόμου του Λίβος) and several members of the Palaiologos dynasty were buried there. Later in the 14th century, an esonarthex and parecclesion were added.
Ottoman Conversion
In 1497, the south church was converted into a mosque by Fenarizade Alâeddin Ali ben Yusuf Efendi, the Ottoman chief judge (kazasker) of Rumeli. He named it after his uncle, Molla Şemseddin Fenari (1350-1431), an Ottoman scholar and theologian. The name of one of the teachers of the madrasa, Isa, was added to the name of the mosque.
The mosque burned down in 1633 and was rebuilt in 1636 by Bayram Pasha (d. 1638), a Grand Vizier under Sultan Murad IV. He also converted the north church into a dervish lodge and removed the Byzantine mosaics.
The Molla Fenari Isa Mosque was damaged by fire in 1782 and restored between 1847 and 1848. It burned down again in 1918 and was abandoned.
Restoration
In 1929, excavations uncovered 22 sarcophagi. The Byzantine Society of America restored the building in the 1970s and 1980s. After the restoration was complete, it opened as a mosque once again.
