A Shared Space and Shared Functions: From a Latin Catholic Church to an Islamic Vakıf in Ottoman Galata

Abstract

In May 1696, a devastating conflagration spread through Galata causing great damage to Latin Catholic ecclesiastical properties, and most significantly the destruction of the Conventual Franciscan church complex of St. Francis. The land was subsequently seized by the Ottoman state and the remaining structure was converted into the imperial mosque of Galata Yeni Cāmiʿ by the reigning sultan’s mother. This study examines the history and shared functions of these two places of worship through the mosque’s endowment deed (vaḳfiye) and additional Ottoman and European contemporary sources. Moreover, local and regional historical contextualisation provides an insight into how both European-Ottoman political relations and internal socioreligious tendencies influenced Ottoman policy towards Galata’s most prominent Latin Catholic church during the late seventeenth century.