Church of Saint Anthony of Padua
I ran into this thermal bath named Galatasaray Hamam in Istanbul which turned out to be one of the oldest in Istanbul. Perhaps if I visited Istanbul in the cooler months then maybe I would be in the mood to try out the hamam. I like it how there was a sign pointing me to the hamam since I would not have known it was there. It was located in a small street off Istiklal Avenue and without the sign outside the doorway, you wouldn’t even know it was there. Not all of the historical structures along the Istiklal Avenue are hard to find. I actually passed by one of them earlier. It was a Catholic church – the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua.
Entering the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in Istanbul
By now, I can tell that vast majority of people in Türkiye is Muslim. However, not everyone is. Centuries back, Constantinople was the Rome of the Byzantine empire and as you know, Christianity was the official religion of the empire. That was before the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople. While a lot of the churches were converted into mosques, Christians and Jews were still allowed to practice their faith. So as long as they were loyal to the sultan. The Church of Saint Anthony of Padua is an example of this tolerance that was present in the Ottoman era as well as the present time.
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