Aya Fotini Cathedral was once located at the intersection of Gazi Boulevard (Gazi Bulvarı) and Halit Ziya Boulevard (Halit Ziya Bulvarı). Today, the Kayahan Business Center stands on this site. However, when the cathedral was first built, it was situated by the sea. Recent research in Venetian archives has provided new insights into the history of the structures in this area. Records from the year 1600 refer to a chapel , a cemetery, and metropolitan residence in the area. The name of the church appears as Aya Fotini. Moreover, the records include drawings of the church. Thus, it is now understood that this structure, previously believed to have been built in 1658, actually dates back to an earlier period. The records also reveal a signed agreement between the Greek metropolitan and the Venetian community living in İzmir in 1600. According to this agreement, in exchange for a portion of the land where the church stood, the Venetians agreed to construct new religious buildings for the Greek community in the remaining section. Construction activities began in 1600 per this agreement, and continued until 1624. The progress of these activities during this period can be traced through the records in the Venetian archives.
The appearance of Aya Fotini Cathedral in 1624 was significantly different from its appearance in photographs of İzmir from the second half of the 19th century. Due to the Ottoman laws of the time, which prohibited the construction of new churches, it can be said that Aya Fotini Church, used for religious purposes, was depicted as a structure that did not resemble a typical church.
The reforms implemented under the Tanzimat and Islahat Edicts granted equal status to the non-Muslim subjects alongside the Muslim subjects, paving the way for the construction of Aya Fotini Cathedral in its well-known form. The apses that characterize the cathedral and the 33-meter-high bell tower, erected to symbolize the age at which Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, were built between 1854 and 1856. At the time of its construction, the Bell Tower was the tallest structure in İzmir, making it a prominent feature of the city’s skyline. Serving also as a lighthouse for ships entering the Gulf of İzmir, a clock was added to the tower in 1893, after which it began to function as a clock tower as well.
Dedicated to Saint Photini the Samaritan, Aya Fotini Cathedral was the largest Greek Orthodox church in İzmir and served as the metropolitan seat. As the most significant religious structure for the native Greek Orthodox community of İzmir, the cathedral was destroyed in the Great Fire of İzmir. Following the Treaty of Lausanne, a population exchange was conducted between Türkiye and Greece, during which the Greek Orthodox residents of İzmir migrated to the Greek mainland. A striking testament to the importance of Aya Fotini for the Greek Orthodox community of İzmir is the construction of a church named Aya Fotini in the Nea Smyrni district of Athens, a neighborhood primarily settled by Greeks who had migrated from İzmir. Interestingly, in 1996, a 33-meter-high bell tower, faithful to the original structure in İzmir, was added to this church.