Basilica of St. Stephen, Istanbul

The Bulgarian Orthodox Christians who were placed under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople tried to gain greater independence from the Greek Orthodox church in the 19th century. In the course of this separation, a Bulgarian exarchate was set up in Constantinople with the permission of Sultan Abdulaziz (1830–1876), and after the old wooden church on the bank of the Golden Horn burnt down, the Bulgarian Orthodox community had the Basilica of St. Stephen (shown here) built. It was consecrated in 1898.

Istanbul - Sant Esteve dels Búlgars, colour photograph, undated, photographer: Josep Renalias; image source: Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Istanbul_-_Sant_Esteve_dels_B%C3%BAlgars.JPG?uselang=de. Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany.