Toklu Dede Mosque

Toklu Dede Masjid was a historical mosque in Istanbul. The building was originally a Byzantine Greek Orthodox church of unknown devotion. It was almost completely destroyed in 1929, and the building was located in the Ayvansaray district in the Fatih district of Istanbul. The only remaining part of the structure (south wall) is surrounded by a modern house located in Toklu İbrahim Dede Street, at the junction between the Blachernae wall and the place where the Golden Horn walls were largely destroyed, within a few meters of the city surrounded by walls. The origin of this structure, built on the northern skirt of the hill, in the quarter of the Blachernae quarter, is uncertain. The small temple is located in the interior of Heraclius Wall, less than 100 m west of the now destroyed Little Ayvansaray Gate (Greek: Koiliomene Gate) and east of the Blakherna Gate. The church (in partnership with the nearby Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque, but also a Byzantine church) is associated with the Church of St. Thekla of the Palace of Blachernae (Greek: Άγία Θέκλα τοῦ Παλατίου τῶν Βλαχερνών, Hagia Thekla tou 'tn Vlakhernō Palace). This is why identity based solely on the similarity of the name should be rejected by this knowledge. Stylistically, the church belongs to the Komnenian period (mid / second half of the 11th century). In the early 14th century (during Palaiologos) the church underwent minor architectural changes and the fresco decoration was renewed.After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, the church was built by Toklu, a former soldier of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. It was converted into a mosque by Ibrahim Dede. The nearby Abu Șeybet ul Hudri tomb, like the more famous Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Muhammad's flag), who was our Prophet's friend. The mausoleum of Abu beteybet ul Hudri is now located on the walls between the Heraclius Wall and the Wall of Leon V. In 1929, the owner of the building almost completely demolished the building, leaving only the south wall and the apse. With the demolition, paintings known to exist since 1890 came to light again. The first survey of the remains was carried out in 1954. As of 2012, only the remaining south wall was enclosed in a new building, and the name of the road on which it was once reminiscent of this structure. The building has a rectangular plan, with the exteriors of which are 14.2 m and 6.7 m long. The single nave with a square plan is covered with a barrel vault and covered with a dome approximately 4 m in diameter in the middle. This is supported by arches carried by square legs. There is an exonarthex in front of the nave and ends with a bema and a polygonal apse adorned with shallow niches inside and outside. The plan of the building is similar to the plan of the Kariye Church in a reduced size. The brickwork of the building consisted of rows of white stones alternating with rows of red bricks. The outer wall is divided by half columns and lecenes covered with arches. The church is framed with some medallions; It is decorated with 14th-century frescoes, including paintings by Eleuterus, Abercius, Polycarp, Spiridon, Prokopius, and Niketas. The barrel vault above the altar is decorated with a fresco representing the Nativity of Christ.