Guide to the Cathedral of St. Anthony in Padua. Church of St. Anthony of Padua From exterior to interior

The Italian Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua is the main and largest Catholic church in Istanbul. It is located on Istiklal Avenue in Beyoglu district.

Monks of the Franciscan order appeared in Istanbul back in the 13th century. The first church dedicated to Saint Francis, the founder of the order, was built in the Galata area in 1230. The Church of St. Francis was one of the few stone buildings to survive the fire of 1696; however, after the fire, at the behest of the Turkish Sultan Mustafa II, it was taken away from the Franciscans and rebuilt into a mosque. By 1724, the Italian community had built a new church dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. This church was destined to stand for 180 years; in 1904 it would be demolished as it interfered with the laying of tram rails. The Turkish authorities allocated a site nearby, and on August 23, 1906, the first stone was laid for the second Church of St. Anthony.

The temple in the Venetian neo-Gothic style, designed by the Italian architect Giulio Mongieri, who built many beautiful buildings in Istanbul at the turn of the century, was opened on February 15, 1912. At the same time, two five-story buildings were built on the site, harmonizing in style with the church, so that the church was located inside a vast courtyard. The income from their construction replenished the funds for the construction of a new temple. To get to the church from Istiklal Street, you need to pass between these houses through an elegant arch with pointed vaults.

In 1932, Pope Pius XI elevated the church, which became the largest Catholic church in Istanbul, to the rank of a minor basilica. In the same year, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, preaches for the first time in the Church of St. Anthony. As papal nuncio to Turkey, he conducted services here for 10 years. The statue of John XXIII, installed in front of the facade of the temple, reminds of this. In 1967, during a visit to Turkey, Pope Paul VI celebrated his first Mass here.

The rectangular building measuring 20 x 50 meters is built of red brick. On the facade of the church there are small turrets and three large rose windows with stained glass, the portals are decorated with mosaics.

In the interior of the church, attention is drawn to ceiling frescoes with scenes from the Holy Scriptures, the walls are decorated with mosaic tiles.

Wiki: en:Church of St. Anthony of Padua (Istanbul) en:Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Istanbul de:Basilika St. Antonius (Istanbul) it:Basilica di Sant "Antonio di Padova (Istanbul)

This is a description of the landmark Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Istanbul, Istanbul (Turkey). As well as photos, reviews and a map of the surrounding area. Find out the history, coordinates, where it is and how to get there. Check out other places on our interactive map for more detailed information. Get to know the world better.

Church of St. Anthony of Padua, as well as St. Paul's Church, located at the foot of Mount Harisa. Built by Franciscan monks in 1628, it is the oldest temple near the mountain. In the late Middle Ages, Lebanon's history is associated with the Ottoman Empire, which supported the Druze. In the seventeenth century, trade with European countries was active. Missionaries flocked to Lebanon to educate local Christians. Especially many Franciscans came, who have since settled in the country.

The oldest example of temple architecture in Jounieh

The Church of St. Anthony of Padua is an architectural landmark of Jounieh. She appeared in the city almost immediately after the “mendicant brothers” settled here. Since then, the temple has only been restored and updated. Its external features and interior decoration have been preserved virtually unchanged.

The interior of the cathedral is filled mainly with attributes of worship of Anthony of Padua, widely revered by the Catholic Church. The central place is given to the icon depicting St. Anthony, who is holding a book in his hands - a symbol of enlightenment and the Word of God and a lily - a symbol of chastity. The frescoes reflect individual scenes from the life of the saint.

Veneration of Anthony of Padua

Perhaps this is one of the few people who was canonized less than a year after death. During his life, he showed many miracles for the Glory of God, he healed more than one body and more than one soul. Everyone who met him at least once received hope of salvation. Anthony lived, like Christ, in meekness and modesty, preaching love and mercy.

Believers of the thirteenth century (Antony was canonized in 1231) had already begun to turn in their prayers to the saint as a miracle worker, able to restore lost values, and the patron of the family. His remains were buried in Padua, and veneration spread throughout the Catholic world.

A tribute to the saint is the construction of temples in his honor. There was even a tradition of leaving things in churches - votive gifts. People who received help at the request of Anthony brought crutches, figurines depicting healed parts of the body - hearts, arms, legs, etc.

Saint Anthony's Feast Day is June 13th. Every year, a festive service is held on this day in the oldest temple of Jounieh and a landmark in Lebanon.

Istanbul is truly a multinational and multireligious city; it is not surprising that there are both Orthodox and Catholic churches. On Istiklal Street, we quite accidentally stumbled upon the Catholic Cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua.

The temple is comfortably hidden in the depths of a small courtyard formed by two original houses. The houses and the temple were built almost simultaneously, so the architect Giulio Mongieri designed the ensemble in the same Venetian neo-Gothic style. In general, Giulio Mongeri built many interesting buildings for Istanbul - for example, the Italian Palace and the Mačka Palace Hotel.

Apparently, the passage over the arch connects the two houses - a kind of romantic gallery. From Istiklal Street the arch is more than noticeable and it is very difficult to miss.

History of the Church of St. Anthony of Padua

Anthony of Padua is one of the most famous followers of St. Francis. The first Church of St. Anthony appeared in Istanbul in 1724, but in 1904 it was demolished to lay tram tracks. In return, the Franciscans were allocated a new site, on which in 1906 they founded the new Church of St. Anthony. In 1912 it opened to believers. The church holds services in several languages.

In 1932, the church received the status of a minor basilica from Pope Pius XI. Pilgrimage churches and churches of significant historical significance receive this status. There are 1,728 churches in the world with this status.

How to get to St. Anthony's Church

The address of the church is Istiklal Street, 171. You can get there on foot along Istiklal Street or take the Historical Tram to the Galatasaray stop.

There are information stands right behind the arch in the courtyard.

Near the steps of the temple there are snow-covered Christmas palms and a statue of Pope John XXIII with a dove, a peaceful but marked bird.

Romantic lanterns. It must be very beautiful here in the evenings.

Palm trees are still perceived as exotic for us, palm trees under the snow even more so. And here is a whole garden of snow-covered palm trees, and they feel great.

Traditional cap with the Virgin Mary. And palm trees.

Entrance to the church is free, the main thing is not to interfere with the service and the believers. At the entrance to the church there is a marble bowl with blessed water.

As it should be - high arches, excellent acoustics, solemnity and simply beauty. The absence of gold frames on icons, IMHO, never spoils the impression.

The cathedral is decorated for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Place for candles.

Paintings, mosaics, bas-reliefs... If you remove the Christmas wreaths, everything will be very modest, discreet and at the same time inspiring.

Well, in the fresh air... everything is also dedicated to Christmas :) The Holy Family was provided with everything they needed - especially important, as we understand, are the orange vests of utility workers.

Day 6 in Istanbul

The Church of St. Anthony of Padua (Sint-Antonius van Padua) - Sint-Antoniuskerk - is not on the list of the main tourist attractions in Antwerp, and we got there somewhat by accident: the house we lived in is located near a large street with good access you can see the spire of this church - how could you not go there! In general, it is not very close to the city center, you have to go by transport. But it's worth it! - we will try to prove this below.

This Temple is very young: last year it turned just a hundred years old! A poster on the façade even reminded parishioners of this:

The history, however, is far from so simple: on this site for almost three hundred years (1613-1906) there was a church of the Capuchin Order, and then within four years it was rebuilt into a Greek Catholic one according to the design of the architect Bilmeyer. At the same time, the new building not only turned out to be two-color: the main building has a brick color, and the façade is sandy - this can be seen in the previous photo and in this one:

But it also acquired a completely special orientation: not from west to east, like other Temples, but from south to north. In particular, two paintings by the great Rubens and Van Dyck moved from the predecessor church to the new Temple, which will be discussed in the next of two posts dedicated to the Church of St. Anthony.

A notable detail of the church is its slender Baroque spire 78 meters high:

I want to show - without comment - another photo found on the Internet:

I want to say a few words about Saint Anthony. This Catholic saint, preacher, one of the most famous Franciscans lived at the beginning of the 13th century and lived only less than 36 years. They prayed to him when there were disagreements between spouses or when it was necessary to find a lost thing. This is how the famous Spanish artist Murillo (Bartolomé Esteban Murillo) imagined Saint Anthony when creating the painting “The Appearance of the Child Jesus to Saint Anthony of Padua”:

In 2003, the Church of St. Anthony of Padua was given the status of a monument of national importance.

Due to its “infant” age according to church concepts, this Temple is, in fact, an example of a modern approach to the construction and equipment of Catholic religious buildings; The main postulates of this approach, as it seemed to us, are the maximum preservation of internal volumes and lighting with minimal splendor of the interior (by minimizing the number of “consumer” elements of decoration and decorations) and almost extreme modesty of exterior decoration. The latter could already be seen in the first photographs, but for now we are going inside:

This is what the main nave looks like in the main (northern) direction:

Main altar:

And this is what the main nave looks like in a southerly direction:

South altar:

Behind Max is one of the side altars:

Here's a closer look at the altar:

Another side altar, with angels:

And one more:

The pulpit is very modest, but with quite decent wood carvings:

And a few more elements of the interior design of the church:

We don’t know whether this exhibition is permanent or we were just lucky, but we saw an exhibition of vestments of clergy of various ranks. About thirty different samples were exhibited, but here, of course, we want to show only a few:

I already wrote at the beginning of the post that the Church of St. Anthony is not one of the tourist sites, and therefore, besides the three of us, during our visit, there were only two respectable uncles in the Temple who were directly related to it. One of them volunteered to be our guide and told us a lot of interesting things, simultaneously drawing our attention to those details that we might have passed by. He also specially opened with a large key the chambers in which the rector of the church is located when he is not busy with services in the hall, and even allowed photography there:

In the next post we will talk about the works of fine art located in the Temple and its stained glass windows.