Kurtulus Mosque The Kurtuluş Mosque, formerly known as St. Mary's Church Cathedral or the "Holy Mother of God Church," is a historical Armenian church located in Gaziantep's Tepebaşı district, Turkey. The Ottoman-Armenian architect of Sultan Abdulhamid II, Sarkis Balyan, designed the church, with stonemason Sarkis Tashciyan starting its construction in 1892. The church was part of a complex that included school and administrative buildings for the diocese in Antep city. In 1915, the church was converted into a storage building, and it remained empty until the 1920s. It was then used as a prison until the 1970s, when it was eventually transformed into a mosque in 1986. The mosque is among the most expansive religious structures in Gaziantep. It features a rectangular layout divided into three levels, and the columns are perpendicular to the mihrab. The cross arms have arches on the exterior, while cross vaults cover them on the interior. Constructed from stone, the mosque boasts pointed arched windows on the first two rows, and round windows on the topmost row. The Mihrab, which protrudes outward, is rectangular in shape, providing more space. The building has three rows of windows, with the largest occupying the center of the pediment. The church bell, which an Armenian living in London built-in Brazil, now sits preserved in the Gaziantep Museum. A minaret was added later and has a round body atop a square base. Additionally, the mosque has five doors, with two opening to the north, two opening to the south, and one opening to the west.