The seat of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople at
Fener (Phanar)(map)
has been here on
the Golden
Horn since 1601, 1-1/2 centuries
after Constantinople was conquered
from the Byzantines in
1453 and became Istanbul.
His
All-Holiness Bartholomew I,
elected in 1990 to be the 270th patriarch,
claims primacy over the 300 million
Orthdox Christians of churches in
North America, the United Kingdom,
Australia and most of Europe.
Today you can visit the patriarchate
and its glittering patriarchal Church
of St George on most days
of the year.
