The Bulgarians of the Ottoman Empire used to pray at the churches of the Fener Orthodox Patriarchy, but due to nationalistic movements in the mid 19th century, Bulgarians were allowed a national church (= the Bulgarian Exarchate, established by the Ottoman royal decree of 28 February 1870). Their first church was a wooden one, situated where the current church is located, but it burned down. This event, and the weak ground conditions made that for the new (current) building an iron frame was preferred. The 19th century was a time of experimentation with prefabricated iron churches. The British, who invented corrugated iron in 1829, manufactured portable iron churches to send to far-flung colonies like Australia. French engineer Gustave Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower's creator) designed iron churches that were sent as far as the Philippines and Peru. Now St Stephen is one of the world's few surviving prefabricated cast iron churches.

The richly ornamented church is a three-domed cross-shaped basilica, with a 40 m-high belfry rising above the narthex, The construction plans were prepared by Hovsep Aznavur, an Armenian of Istanbul origin. In terms of architecture, the church combines Neo-Gothic and Neo-Baroque influences.

An international competition was conducted to produce the prefabricated parts of the church, won by an Austrian company. These parts, weighing 500 tons, were produced in Vienna in 1893-1896 and transported to Istanbul by ship through the Danube and the Black Sea. The main skeleton of the church was made of steel and covered by metal boards. All the pieces were attached together with nuts, bolts, rivets or welding. After one and a half years' work, the church was completed in 1898 and inaugurated by Exarch Joseph on 8 September that year.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Source: Wikipedia.