Frommer's Review
This former monastery church is one of the most important historic landmarks of the Byzantine period; however, because the structure is in a sad state of neglect, a detour here can only be recommended in tandem with a stroll through the narrow streets of the Zeyrek neighborhood. Dedicated to St. Saviour Pantocrator, the building is actually a composite of two churches and a chapel, making it the second-largest church in Istanbul after Ayasofya. The monastery was founded by Empress Eirene, wife of John II Comnenus, who completed the south church prior to her death in 1124. She was also the first to be buried here (her sarcophagus was moved in the 1960s to the Archaeological Museum, but now resides in the exonarthex of the Ayasofya). The northern church was added by the emperor (her husband) after Eirene's death, and dedicated to Virgin Eleousa, the Merciful or Charitable. Nothing remains of its original ornamentation. The emperor also had the churches connected through the jerry-rigging of a chapel between the north and south church, which also required the demolition of part of the exterior walls of the two buildings. The minbar (pulpit), added when the church was converted into a mosque in the 15th century, is composed of recycled fragments of Byzantine sculpture.
Although the building preserves some of its original decoration (marble pavement, door frames in the narthex, marble apse), it's almost impossible to get a sense of the interior, as each section has been blocked off by wooden partitions.
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