St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral in Istanbul, originally uploaded by voyageAnatolia.
St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral is the largest cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul, Turkey. It is located on Istiklal Avenue in the Taksim.
Saint Anthony (August 15, 1195 – June 13, 1231) also venerated as Saint Anthony of Lisbon and Saint Anthony of Padua, is a Catholic saint who was born in Lisbon, Portugal, as Fernando Martins de Bulhões to a wealthy family and who died in Padua, Italy.
The original St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral was built in 1725 by the local Italian community of Istanbul, but was later demolished and replaced with the current building which was constructed on the same location. The current St. Anthony of Padua, along with its adjacent buildings on Istiklal Avenue, was built between 1906 and 1912 in the Venetian Neo-Gothic style, and was likewise edificed by the local Italian community of the city, mostly of Genoese and Venetian, who amounted to 40,000 people at the turn of the 20th century. The building was designed by the Istanbulite Levantino Italian architect Giulio Mongeri, who also designed many other important buildings in Istanbul and Ankara; such as the Maçka Palas (which houses Armani Café and Gucci) in Nişantaşı and the Neo-Byzantine style Karaköy Palas bank building in Karaköy (Galata), Istanbul; as well as the first headquarters of Türkiye İş Bankası in Ankara.