Relics of Muhammad
Traditionally, Islam has had a rich history of the veneration of relics, especially of those attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. There exists historical evidence that some of the earliest Muslims practiced the veneration of relics, and the practice continued to remain popular in many parts of the Sunni Islamic world until the eighteenth-century, when the reform movements of Salafism and Wahhabism began to staunchly condemn such practices due to their linking it with the sin of "shirk" (idolatry). As a result of the influence of these perspectives, some contemporary Muslims influenced by these ideologies have rejected the traditional practice of relic-veneration altogether. The most genuine prophetic relics are believed to be those housed in Istanbul's Topkapı Palace, in a section known as "Hirkai Serif Odasi" (Chamber of the Holy Mantle).
Bogdan Saray
After the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, in sixteenth century the chapel became part of the large land estate bought by the "hospodar" of Moldavia to host his envoys in Istanbul, and named accordingly "Boğdan Sarayi" ("Moldavian Palace"). In this respect, its usage as private chapel of a patrician house represents a rarity in the Ottoman city. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the complex - a coveted property because the high border wall protected it by fires - was leased by the Sultan as residence for several foreign envoys, among them the Swedish ambassadors to the Ottoman Porte P. Strasburg and C. Rolomb, who sojourned in Istanbul in 1634 and 1657/58 respectively. In June 1760 the Phanariote John Callimaches endowed it to the Russian monastery of St. Pantaleon on Mount Athos. The complex burned down in the fire of 1784, and afterward the land was only used as a market garden. The possession of the church by the Athos monastery was confirmed again by relatives of Callimaches in January 1795 and August 1814, but the Russian monks showed little interest in the church's restoration, possibly because of the state of war between the Russian Empire and the Sublime Porte. In the nineteenth century the edifice steadily decayed and after the 1894 Istanbul earthquake fell into ruin. In 1918 a German archaeologist pursued clandestine excavations and found in the crypt three unnamed tombs. In the second half of the 20th century the remains of the building were enclosed in a shanty (), and today—lying inside a tire shop—they are hardly accessible. As of 2012 the parts above ground have almost disappeared, and only the crypt still exists.