St. Anthony Church

I really love the idea of having lots of very very old churches in Turkey although we are mostly Muslim populated culture. This is one of them. I didn't know its history very well so I searched a little and you can find detailed information below.

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The Church of St Anthony of Padua, one of Beyoglu's most important monuments, is located about halfway between Taksim and Tünel on İstiklal Street. The church is known among Turks as ''Sen Antuan'', the phonetic reading of its name in French.

A saint is born...
St Anthony was born in 1195 in Lisbon, the first son of a noble family. At the age of 15, he joined the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. He later continued his education at the Convent of Santa Croce in Cóimbra. He and became a Franciscan preacher and later Minister Provincial of Emilia. Anthony died on June 13, 1231 and was buried in the small church of Santa Maria in Padua. He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX a year later. His remains were moved to a church built by the Franciscans and the Paduans, and Pope Pius XII declared him a Doctor of the Church. St Anthony is the patron saint of fishermen, sailors and travelers, and his saint's day is June 13.
The Franciscans came to Istanbul in 1221 and built a church in Galata in 1230. This was the only Franciscan church in Istanbul for 350 years. The church was converted into a mosque under Sultan Mustafa II, and a new Franciscan church was built in Pera, dedicated to St Anthony. The stone church opened on October 29, 1763. However, in 1904, the church was torn down in order to make room for the new tram. The Franciscans began to look for a home on the same avenue for their new church, and chose the site of the former Concordia Theater, which had burned down in a major fire. The new church was designed by architects Giulio Mongeri and Edoardo De Nari. Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1911.

PS: This article was taken from here.