Arap Mosque

This mosque in the Karaköy district began as a Gothic church built by the Dominican friars of the medieval Genoese colony of Galata in the early fourteenth century. Its most unusual feature is a tall square bell tower converted into a minaret, giving it a silhouette unlike any other mosque in the city. Converted to Islamic use after the conquest and later resettled by Muslim refugees from Spain, it took its name from that Arab-speaking congregation. Restoration revealed medieval frescoes and tombstones, a rare witness to Latin Constantinople.