[1] Located in the Büyükdere quarter of Sarıyer district in northern Istanbul, the church was founded by Franciscan priests, and dedicated to Virgin Mary.

The altar, tabernacle and interior walls of the church feature numerous large-sized oil paintings in Marian art with depictions of stories and descriptions from the Bible.

[1] The church organ, which was built by Rieger Orgelbau, and was initially brought in 1875 for the chapel of the French Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul, was installed in 1914.

On 28 January 2024, two masked men entered the church during the Sunday morning worship, and opened fire on people around 11:40 local time.

[2] According to a statement of Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya, it is considered that the suspects are members of the terrorist organization Islamic State, being one of Tajikistani and the other of Russian origin.