Eyup Sultan Mosque (Golden Horn)

Abstract

Istanbul, (Byzantium or Constantinople), is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul was the capital of the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the Latin Empire and the Ottoman Empire. This old mosque, having two minarets, is situated in the Eyup district on the European side of Istanbul, near the Golden Horn, outside the Walls of Constantinople. Built in 1458, it was probably the first mosque constructed by the Ottoman Turks following their conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The mosque rises next to the place where Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the standard-bearer of the prophet Muhammad, is believed to have been buried during the Arab assault on Constantinople circa 670 AD. He is known in Turkish as Eyup Sultan, naming the mosque after him.