St. Anthony of Padua Church

St. Anthony of Padua Church is the largest Catholic church in Istanbul and an unusually complete Neo-Gothic survival in a city dominated by Byzantine and Ottoman architecture. Tucked mid-İstiklal Avenue between Tomtom and Tünel, its twin spires and stained glass are visible from across the avenue.

The church was built in 1906-1912 by the Italian Levantine community (the wealthy merchants of Pera/Beyoğlu) using the same Levant-overall Levantine architects who did many of Beyoğlu's grand 19th-century apartment buildings. The interior is a complete three-aisle Neo-Gothic basilica with marble altars, rib-vaulted ceilings, and a polychrome marble floor.

St. Anthony is one of the few active non-Muslim places of worship in central Istanbul, and mass is still celebrated daily in Italian, Turkish, English, and Polish — a legacy of the Dominican order's work with Istanbul's Italian, Polish, and Levantine communities. The Sunday English mass is well-attended by the city's small expatriate community and visitors.

Free entry. Mass schedule is posted on sentantuan.com. Walk past it on İstiklal even if you don't go in — at night the lit facade is one of the avenue's most-photographed moments.