Church of St Anthony of Padua

The Church of St Anthony of Padua is considered the largest Catholic church in Istanbul and stands directly on the pedestrian Istiklal in the Beyoglu district. The present building was erected between 1906 and 1912 to a design by the Istanbul architect of Italian origin Giulio Mongeri, on the site of an earlier church demolished when the street was laid out. The parish has historically been linked with the Italian community of the city, and the building itself is kept in a neo-Gothic key with an eye to the Venetian tradition: red brick, pointed arches, a rose window over the entrance and an open courtyard with an arcade separating the church from the noise of the street. Inside are three naves with pointed vaults, stained glass in the apse and coloured lighting that makes the vaults appear blue in the evening hours. Angelo Roncalli, the papal representative in Turkey and the future Pope John XXIII, served here in the 1930s, and his bronze statue stands in the courtyard. Masses are held in several languages, including Italian, English, Polish and Turkish, and the church remains one of the few Christian buildings open in the centre.

On the map