Istanbul in the 1970s, as people from Anatolia migrated to the city to find employment in the many new factories that were built on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. This sudden, sharp rise in the city's population caused a large demand for housing, and many previously outlying villages and forests became engulfed into the metropolitan area of Istanbul. Istanbul is located in north-western Turkey within the Marmara Region on a total area of . The Bosphorus, which connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, divides the city into a European, Thracian side—comprising the historic and economic centers—and an
Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul) got its name from a nearby holy spring, reputed to have healing properties. For almost fifteen hundred years, this sanctuary has been one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Greek Orthodoxy. The church is located in Istanbul, in the district of Zeytinburnu, in the neighbourhood of Balıklı, along "Balıklı Sivrikapı Sokak". It lies a few hundred meters outside the walled city, about five hundred meters from the Gate of Silivri (Turkish: "Silivri Kapısı"). The complex is protected by a high wall, and – being surrounded by Eastern Orthodox and Armenian cemeteries – lies in a green landscape. According to