Liberation Mosque ( ) , formerly the St Mary 's Church Cathedral or Holy Mother of God Church ( , ) , is located in the Tepebaşı district of Gaziantep in Turkey . It was built as an Armenian Apostolic Church but , after the Armenian Genocide , was converted into a mosque . Sarkis Balyan , the Ottoman-Armenian architect of Sultan Abdulhamid II , designed the church . Construction started in 1892 , undertaken by the stonemason Sarkis Taşçıyan . The church was part of a complex that also contained a school and administrative buildings of the dioceses of the '' kaza '' of Antep
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Liberation Mosque