Turkey · İstanbul · Fatih
Aksaray, Fatih — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Mehmet II settled migrants here in the 15th century and their home town's name stuck: Aksaray, a dense Fatih quarter around the Şehzade Mosque.
About Aksaray
Where to stay in Aksaray
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Aksaray packs a great deal into just under a square kilometre, and a bed here puts the Şehzade Mosque, the Museum of Turkish Calligraphy Art and the Bayezid II, Turkish Bath Culture Museum inside an easy walk. Fatih surrounds it. Anything booked here trades space for proximity, since the mosques and museums of this corner of Istanbul Province stand within a short walk instead of a ride across the wider district.
About Aksaray
What are the main landmarks in Aksaray?
Mosques come first: the Şehzade Mosque, the Fenari Isa Mosque and the Bodrum Mosque, with the Etyemez Tekkesi Mescidi among them. Christian foundations survive too, in the Holy Mother of God cathedral and the Peribleptos Manastırı. Smaller museums round out the list.
Aksaray gathers the Museum of Turkish Calligraphy Art, the Turkish Pharmacy Museum, the İstanbul Fotoğraf Müzesi, the Diş Sağlığı Müzesi, the Kont Szchenyi İtfaiye Müzesi and the Türk İnşaat ve Sanat Eserleri Müzesi, alongside the Bayezid II, Turkish Bath Culture Museum.
What is the history of Aksaray?
The name travelled here with people. Migrants from another town called Aksaray were brought to this quarter in the 15th century by Mehmet II, to repopulate the city after its conquest, and the neighbourhood has carried that name ever since. Older ground lies beneath: the Amastrianum and the Harbour of Eleutherios both belong to this stretch of Fatih.
Later figures got their own markers. The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Anıtı, the Bust of Ibrahim Muteferrika and the Turan Emeksiz Monument stand across the streets.
Where is Aksaray?
Fatih holds Aksaray on just under a square kilometre of dense ground within Istanbul Province. Its mosques sit minutes apart.
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More areas in Fatih
Updated August 2026