Balikli Meryem Ana Rum Manastiri

The Church of the Mother of God of the Life-Giving Spring, in Greek Zoodochos Pigi, belongs to a Greek Orthodox monastery in Istanbul's Balikli neighbourhood, just outside the Theodosian walls. The site has been a pilgrimage destination since the 5th or 6th century because of a spring here that Orthodox tradition holds to be miraculous. The complex was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt; the present church dates from 1835, after the Ecumenical Patriarchate obtained an Ottoman firman allowing reconstruction. The forecourt contains tombs of Greek patriarchs and notables from the Phanariot era. Today visitors descend a short flight of steps into a crypt where the spring fills a marble basin holding small consecrated fish; a quiet pilgrimage spot that fills up for the feast on Easter Friday.