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Church-Mosque of Vefa is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans in Istanbul. The complex represents one of the most important examples of Comnenian and Palaiologan architecture of Constantinople.
The church was erected in the 10th or the 11th centuries. During the Latin domination of Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade the edifice was used as a Roman Catholic church. Shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the church became a mosque, founded by the famous Kurdish scholar Molla Gürâni. The mosque is also named after him. In the 19th century the mosque was badly damaged, possibly by the fire which in 1833 ravaged the surrounding quarter. In 1848 the complex was restored: in that occasion the mosaics which adorned the building were largely destroyed. In 1937, the building underwent a partial restoration, and its surviving mosaics were uncovered and cleaned.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.