Not a Byzantine church but a place of worship in what Mamboury (1925) identifies as a Byzantine building – the vault of the old Galata Castle, the traditional anchoring point of one end of the great chain across the Golden Horn. The ceiling of Yeraltı Camii is very low and is supported by 54 thick columns.
Thick pillars of Yeraltı Camii.
The chain, now on display in the Military Museum, Harbiye
There are two tombs in the mosque, said to be those of two soldiers who were killed in the 7th century Arab siege of Constantinople. As is usual with these things, the locations of the tombs came to a dervish in a dream. Sultan Murat IV then had the bodies placed in a more fitting resting place.
Tombs of Abu Sufyan and Amiri Wahibi.
The roof is so low that the mihrab and mimber appear to be squashed.
Mihrab of Yeraltı Camii
Mimber of Yeraltı Camii.
In the mosque, there is a rather charming model of al-Masjid al-Haram, the holiest site of Islam.
Model of al-Masjid al-Haram
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