The Pantokrator Monastery of the Zeyrek Mosque

The complex was built by the famous architect of tire time, Nikephoros, under the auspices of Empire Johannes Komnenos II and his wife Irene in the first district of the 12th century. It comprises two adjacent churches, the burial chapel between them, the hospital, the old age asylums, the lunatic asylums and the dormitories for the priests around them. The churches were dedicated to Jesus Christ and Mary, and the chapel between them were dedicated to the
archangel Michael. The Pantokrator Church is the second biggest church which has survived in Istanbul, following Hagia Sophia. It employed 700 personnel in

its monastery. Gennadios, who was commissioned to be the Patriarch after the Ottomans conquered Istanbul, had been imprisoned here in the Byzantine era. After the conquest, the churches were transformed into mosques, and the monastery was transformed into madrasahs. In the following years, the buildings of the madrasah which was abandoned due to the loss of significance, and the church which was used as a mosque was neglected. The colorful mosaics on the upholstery and the colorful remnants of glass from the windows are the rare samples of the church's archaic magnificence which have survived.

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