SAINT STEPHEN CHURCH (FATIH MOSQUE) 

The Saint Stephen Church in Tirilye serves as a mosque today. The monument is one of the oldest and genuine Byzantine churches in Southern Marmara. It is a rare building that dates back to 610-850. The church, transformed now into mosque, was initially known as Aya Todori. With an inscription “968 AH” (1560) on the door, the church was later converted to Fatih Mosque. It is also called Kenolakkus Abbey. The building, which has Byzantine capitals at the entrance, has a dome of 19 meters high. The conical dome sat on two-grade drum is the most outstanding part of the building. In 16^th century, it was purchased during Ottoman era and turned into a mosque. There are two documents in Ottoman with Arabic alphabet. One is placed on western façade of church, while the other is located on the epitaph under eaves level with the entrance door. A person called Hasan Ibn Ali had built a fountain on the yard wall to the west of mosque. The great earthquake in 1855 damaged the minaret, dome and southern wall; nevertheless, they were eventually repaired. During Greek invasion in July 1920, it was temporarily transformed back into church by local Greeks; nevertheless, it was turned into a mosque once again at the behest of King Konstantinos who visited the site in September 1921.