Surp Krikor Losaroviç Armenian Catholic Church

The Surp Krikor Lusavoriç Armenian Catholic Church was built in 1839 in the Dereboyu Street, Ortaköy, on the European side of the Istanbul Bosphorus. The first church built and opened to worship by the Istanbul Armenian Catholic society is the Surp Pırgiç Church in Galata. By the will of the Sultan Mahmud II on January 6, 1830, the Catholic Armenians gained the right to build a church but several problems were encountered in practice. In order to overcome those problems, new churches were built after getting permission on the ground of repairing the existing churches. Upon the increase in the Catholic population in Ortaköy in the early 19th Century, the permission for building a church there was granted through an imperial order (firman) dated November 5, 1837. The Ortaköy Surp Krikor Lusavoriç Church, which was built on the land donated by Krikor Hekimyan as the second church of the Armenian Catholic society in Istanbul, was opened to worship on January 6, 1839. There are four small alters and two overlapped balconies in the church, architecture of which resembles the Roman basilicas. In the past, the central parts of churches were reserved for men while the balconies were reserved for women, just like in mosques. This method was abandoned in 1850’s, and no balcony was constructed in the churches built after then.

LOCATION

Ortaköy Dereboyu St. No:76 Beşiktaş/İstanbul - Turkey