A Hitherto Unidentified Sultanic Mosque in Istanbul: The Anadoluhisarı Fatih Sultan Mehmed Mosque

This study aims to improve our understanding of the Anadoluhisarı Fatih Sultan Mehmed Mosque and its history. Built by Sultan Mehmed II near the seaside north of Anadoluhisarı, the mosque was demolished in the early years of the republic during the construction of the five–kilometer Üsküdar–Beykoz road. Misinformation about the mosque abounds in the literature, mostly owing to a lack of archival research on the subject. This study aims to correct that by examining documents from the Ottoman archives and plans and maps showing the mosque’s location in the archives of the İBB Atatürk Library. These documents reveal much new information about the mosque’s history, including details about its original construction, disasters that damaged the edifice, and later restoration efforts. The final part of the study uses visual data from the plans and maps found in the archives to integrate the building plan into modern maps at the correct scale. This makes it possible to confidently estimate the coordinates of the original building and determine the area covered by each part of the structure. © 2024 Istanbul Research Institute. All rights reserved.