DAMAT İBRAHİM PASHA COMPLEX

Şehzadebaşı, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'23.4"N 28°58'28.6"E / 41.006500, 28.974611



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This complex was built in 1720 by the order of Damad Ibrahim Pasha (1718-1730) who held the office of Grand Vizier three times of Ottoman Empire. It is located at the corner of Dede Efendi Street and Şehzadepaşa Street. The complex was built by Chief Architect Kayserili Mehmet Ağa for Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha in the 1720s.

It is one of the most important works of Damat Ibrahim Pasha Complex. If we consider water-tank with a fountain as the centre of Complex, Madrasa covers a half of the complex. All the other parts of complex are on the other side of water-tank. Damad Ibrahim Pasha Complex was built with the aim of being used as Darul Hadis Madrassa and library. Today madrasa is used as cultural centre by East Turkistan Foundation.

Built between 1726-1727 under Damat İbrahim Pasha's direction, it consists of a mosque, madrasah, sabil, cemetary, library, sibyan mektebi (junior school), imaret (kitchens for madrasah students) and Turkish bath.

Kurşunlu Mosque is known as Damat İbrahim Pasha Mosque. However because its domes are made out of lead, locally it is called Kurşunlu Mosque (Leaded Mosque). It was built by head architect Mehmet Ağa and his foreman Serkis and located in a courtyard surrounded by high and thick walls. The courtyard has three entrances.

The west side door which is also used today has double arches. The inner arch is decorated with verses from the era's famous poet Nedim.The main area of the mosque is reached through a wooden door with two arches. The lower arch is decorated with verses from Seyyid Vehbi. This square shaped main area is covered with a dome.

The exterior of the building has a simple architecture, however the interior has been adorned with stencilled motifs from the Lale Era. The minaret on the north side of the mosque is built in the baroque style and embellished with Acanthus leaves. In the years when the schoolroom of the complex was transformed into a mosque, the minaret with a sherefe (minaret balcony) was added to the present complex. This structure is the only remaining part of the complex that has survived until today.

The Ablutions Fountain stands in the middle of the courtyard, on top of 8 marble pillars and covered with lead. The body of the water tank has 12 corners. The taps are separated by small marble pillars. The gutter of the wooden interior domes is decorated with geometrical shapes and zigzags. The water-tank with a fountain of the mosque is located at the woodland in the complex.

As for the fountain of the mosque, it was located in the middle of the courtyard, amid the trees. The fountain of the complex was damaged during road works. The public fountain of the complex, according to its inscription, was finished in 1719.

Madrasah (School) built at the same time, it stands on the west side of the mosque. Cut stone was used in its construction. After being refurbished in 1961 it was reopened as a Public Library. The arched entry door of the madrasah contains an epigraph from Seyyid Vehbi. A square shaped courtyard holds domed madrasah rooms containing cupboards and stoves. There are also iwan rooms that were used by the students studying in the madrassa.

The rooms with eyvan, a vaulted room with one side open to a courtyard, located in the same direction of the graves, was built for madrasah (Qur'an School) students. In the period of its activity as a madrasah, it is known that the little complex had been decked out with a crowded permanent staff. Flowers motif used in the ornaments of the structure showed parallelism with the understanding of architecture during the “Tulip Era” (1718-1730) and increases its artistic value.

Library located to the north east of madrasah, it dates to 1727. The interior of this domed square structure is decorated with stencils. It is known that Damat İbrahim Pasha presented 187 volumes to the library. The structure with portico and dome, opposite the masjid on the right side of the crowned gate, is a library.

Imaret (Kitchen) built in 1726, it stands south of the madrasah. It consists of two rooms, a kitchen, toilets and a storage room carved in rock. It was used as a prison for some time and in 1949 transformed into a museum. Today it is used as a soup kitchen.

Sibyan Mektebi (Junior School) located to the south of the Imaret in the same courtyard, the first floor of this two-storey building was carved in rock. Today it is used as a storage depot. The second floor is made of cut stone and has three domed rooms each holding a window looking onto the courtyard.

Turkish Bath built in 1727 to the north of the mosque complex, it consists of separate buildings that are made out of cut stone. An octagonal saloon on the top floor holds changing rooms with wood cladding. There is an octagonal pool in the middle of the domed saloon.

Fountains are two fountains in the mosques complex; the first one is on the north wall of the mosque courtyard, and the other one, which holds an epigraph by Seyyid Vehbi (a poet), is on the supporting wall on the corner of Sibyan Mektebi. Both are adorned with various decorations. The public fountain of the complex, located on Şehzadepaşa Street, came to harm during road construction.

The grave of Damat Ibrahim Paşa and his sons are present in the southern section of the complex’s courtyard. The graves of Damat İbrahim Pasha and his sons, Mehmet and Mustafa, are situated in the southern section of the complex’s courtyard.

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VALİDE PERTEVNİYAL MOSQUE

Aksaray Square, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'37.0"N 28°57'10.0"E / 41.010278, 28.952778



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The Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque, also known as the Aksaray Valide Mosque (Turkish: Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Camii, Aksaray Valide Sultan Camii), is an Ottoman imperial mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. It is located at the intersection of Ordu Street and Atatürk Boulevard in the Aksaray neighborhood. It is located next to Pertevniyal High School (Turkish: Pertevniyal Lisesi) which was also built by the order of Sultana Pertevniyal in 1872.

One of the last mosques built in Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire, the Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque was built for the Sultana Pertevniyal, wife of Sultan Mahmud II and mother of Sultan Abdülaziz. It was designed by the Italian architect Montani. The construction work began in November 1869, and the mosque was finished in 1871.

The complex, which comprises several buildings around a central mosque (külliye), was commissioned by Pertevniyal Valide Sultan and consists of a mosque, a tomb, a sabil, a public fountain, a clock-room where timepieces for calculating prayer times accurately on a daily basis were kept, a library, and a theological school (madrasa). The mosque is a single-domed, square prayer hall, following the traditional plan. In front of its strongly vertical mass is an additional two-storey building that comprises the portico for latecomers, men's and women's areas, the sultan's loge and various rooms.

Attached to this additional building, separate from the main body of the mosque, are two minarets, each with a single balcony. The square prayer hall measures 10 m x 10 m and is extended with arches on four sides. The mosque's east, west and south façades are all emphasised with turrets and the outward projections of their central sections are each crowned with a triangular pediment. Each section has two rows of three windows. The dome, separated from the walls and brought inward, is supported on a high, 12-sided drum.

The Valide Mosque is located on the north-west side of Aksaray Square in Fatih. The Valide Mosque stands at the very beginning of the Atatürk Boulevard, at the crossroads of the Aksaray Square. It was built at the behest of Sultan Abdülaziz's (1861-1876) mother, Pertevniyal Valide Sultan, between 1869-1871 and was designed by the architect, Sarkis Balyan. It is also known that Agop Balyan made a contribution to the project. It is claimed by some sources that the architecture of the mosque was Montani, an Italian architect.

There had previously stood a mosque named Hacı Mustafa Ağa located on the former site of the Valide Mosque. The present-day Valide Mosque was built on the ruins of that mosque. It was mainly designed as a complex which including a muvakkithane (a time keeping room), a fountain, a tomb and Sıbyan Mektebi (an Ottoman elementary-primary school). The mosque is composed of two sections: the last prayer section and the Harim (sanctum sanctorum). The size of the Harim is 10 x 10 m, and the ceiling structure is composed of a dome.

The Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque is noteworthy for the density and variety of its decoration. The projecting central sections of the façades and the windows on the drum of the dome are executed in the Gothic style. The design of triple blind niches above the windows, for instance, borrow elements from Ottoman decorative art, while their location recalls examples from North African and Andalusian architecture.

The blind niches, as well as the decorative compositions of arabesques and palmettes on the façades, are, like the muqarnas, elements borrowed from Classical Ottoman art. The corner turrets, each of which terminates in a lobed onion-dome reminiscent of Indian architecture, are decorated with niches containing muqarnas, again borrowed from Classical Ottoman architecture, as well as the simple blind niches and various geometric motifs.

The Neo-Gothic style of the Valide Mosque differentiates it architecturally from the more classic mosques. The single dome is quite high, but small. The mosque's main body and front are different from any other mosques built up to that period. The neo-gothic embellishments, in particular, reinforce the mosque's unique beauty. The interior of the mosque also boasts an array of rich and beautiful embellishments. The interior is fully decorated with-blue inscriptions and engravings shining with gold gilding. The mosque has two minarets and a single gallery.

Among the historical mosques of Istanbul, its ornaments and decorations have been more extensively used than others. The western impact on the architectural design during the period, combined with 16th-17th century decoration techniques, have been blended together in the mosque. Additionally, the decorations still shine with a gleaming, blue color, and its engraved ornaments have become prominent elements within the architectural aesthetic. Both the inner and outer sides of the mosque’s walls are marble panels decorated with motifs and calligraphies depicting selected verses from the Qur’an.

The interior space, like the façades, is densely decorated. Ottoman motifs are used in painted decoration (kalemişi) in which blue dominates. A cornice with muqarnas surrounds the upper section of the lower row of windows. On the surfaces of the walls, as on the façades, classical Ottoman elements are found including blind niches, muqarnas, arch motifs, arabesques, and Chinese-inspired floral ornament. The marble mihrab and minbar are plain.

The door of the courtyard, which looks out onto Aksaray Square, is strikingly different from other mosques of İstanbul  The door frame is one of the rare and unique examples of the art of stone engraving. The stone workmanship on the court door opening toward the Aksaray Square is the pinnacle of success of Ottoman stone workmanship.

The mosque is actually part of a complex made up of a school, tomb, clock room and public fountain. During the reorganization of Aksaray Square in 1956-1959 the other parts of the complex were either destroyed or, as in the case of the public fountain, moved elsewhere. Due to the renovation of the underpass and of the upper roads as well as to the increasing of the overall height of the road, the mosque appears to be burried underground today.

Wood Carving And Inlays
The ancient Turkish art of wood carving makes use of a variety of different design techniques on traditional forms such as columns, doors, window covers, chests, stools, and Quran covers. By the seventeenth century, inlays of ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl and other semi-precious stones were applied as inlays for carved wood pieces.

Perhaps the most ubiquitous use of mother-of-pearl inlays in Turkey are to be found in palace furniture and architecture. The most magnificent sites for such incomparable work are the Topkapı Palace, the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, the Tomb of Murad III, the Beylerbeyi Palace and the Blue Mosque.

Stone Carving
Frequently used on the walls of buildings, mosques, minarets, gates, columns, pools and tombstones as a decorative feature, stone carvings added strenght and durability to structures in addition to its aesthetic function. Although almost all kinds of stones were used for carving and art work, marble and sandstone traditionally have been the most frequently used stone for this purpose.

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LALELİ MOSQUE COMPLEX

Laleli, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'37.0"N 28°57'23.0"E / 41.010278, 28.956389



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The complex is located in the Laleli neighbourhood of Eminönü at the intersection of Ordu Street and Fethi Bey Street. It was built by Sultan Mustafa III between 1760-1763, and the architect is thought to have been either Mehmed Tahir Ağa or Hacı Ahmed Ağa. The complex is made up of a mosque, a soup kitchen, a public fountain, a fountain with a spout, a mausoleum, an inn and a medresse. The mosque forms the centre of the complex. The substructure of the mosque functions as both a basement and a courtyard. The courtyard is above ground level and accessible by steps.

The Laleli mosque is located in the centre of this raised courtyard. It is one of the finest examples of 18th century Ottoman architect. The 24-window main dome is supported by three half domes located at the entrance and kiblah, or direction toward Mecca. There are two minarets each with a single gallery. The alem, or decorative metal device atop the minarets, are especially unusual. The mosque was designed in the Baroque style and is illuminated by 105 windows. The interior walls are covered with coloured porphyry marble.

The fountain and mausoleum of the complex are located on the corner of Ordu Street on the Aksaray side. The front tombs contain the remains of Sultan Mustafa III and Sultan Selim III. Next to them are the tombs of the Haseki Sultans. The inn of the complex is located to the north of the mosque on Fethi Bey Street and is still used as a market. The basement of the mosque, which was not originally used for commercial purposes, also serves as a marketplace today. The medresse of the complex has not survived to the present day.

The Laleli Complex was built between 1760 and 1763 by Sultan Mustafa III (1754-1757). It is the last royal complex to be built in Istanbul and follows the Ottoman baroque convention established at the Nuruosmaniye Complex built a decade earlier. Most scholars attribute this monument to Mehmed Tahir Ağa, while others have suggested a role for head-architect Hacı Ahmed Ağa. The word "Lale", in Turkish, is a tulip. The name Laleli, which the complex shares with its neighborhood, is thought to either refer to a local saint named Laleli Baba whose tomb stood near the mosque until the mid 1950's or the Laleli Fountain, which is mentioned in 18th century sources.

The complex consists of a mosque (cami), madrasa (medrese), soup-kitchen (imaret), fountain (çeşme), sabil, tombs (türbe), a room for the timekeeper of the mosque (muvakkithane), housing for the imam and muezzin and a han and stores built as an endowment for the religious foundation. The nearby Çukurcuma baths, although built earlier, are often considered a part of the Laleli complex. The mosque and soup kitchen are located inside a rectangular walled-in precinct that is raised considerably above the street level on a tall basement.

The precinct is entered through two main gates located at the two southern corners facing Ordu Street. Both gates are vaulted and open into ramps that lead up to the precinct level. The mosque is placed diagonally inside the precinct, with its qibla wall facing the southeast gate. The soup-kitchen is sited to its northwest. Flanking the southwest gate are the sabil and the Tomb of Sultan Mahmud III and Sultan Selim III, both of which are incorporated into the walls of the cemetery located at street level to the west of the raised precinct.

Oriented along the northwest-southeast axis, the mosque has of a square prayer hall and a rectangular courtyard about twice its size that precedes it to the northwest. The courtyard is enveloped by a continuous arcade composed of eighteen domed bays five of which form the mosque portico and has an ablution fountain at its center. It is entered through a main portal to the northwest, in axis with the mosque entrance, and two side entrances that flank the portico. The portal leading into the prayer hall is located at the center of the portico and bears an inscriptive plaque referring to the 1783 restoration. The Laleli complex was restored thoroughly after a fire in 1783.

A fire swept the neighborhood in 1911, destroying the madrasa, which was located on a side street to the east of the complex. What remained of the madrasa and the 18th century residential neighborhood was demolished in 1918 and development followed a newly established orthogonal street pattern. The monument's original context was disrupted a second time in 1956, during the enlargement of the highway to its south, when the precinct wall and gates were moved further north and new stores were built along its southern wall. Since then, Laleli has been gradually transformed from a residential to a touristic neighborhood that is centered on international trade.

The prayer hall is square, capped with a dome carried on eight tall columns that form an octagon in plan. The square hall is extended by a three-bay narthex to the northwest and rectangular mihrab apse projecting to the southeast. Side arcades composed of twelve bays flank the whole on the exterior. The narthex gallery has two balconies projecting to the right and left of the entrance carried on marble pillars. The right balcony, protected by a gilt screen, is reserved for the sultan and is accessed primarily through an enclosed and gated ramp outside the mosque. The left balcony is the müezzin's lodge.

The dome of the Laleli mosque is 12.50 meters in diameter at a height of 24.50 meters, about half the size and height of the dome at Nuruosmaniye. It is carried on an octagonal drum made of eight arches, with semi-domes attached to the corner arches and larger semi-domes joining the arches above mihrab and the central bay of the narthex. The eight columns that carry the dome arches are engaged with the side walls, with the exception of the two at the narthex. At the corners, angular squinches provide transition from the square plan to the octagonal crown.

The interior of the prayer hall is well-lit with twenty-four windows in the dome, five windows in the large semi-domes and three in each of the small semi-domes. There are also casement windows at ground level that open into the side arcades, and a tier of arched windows above, topped by circular windows below the dome arches. All windows, with the exception of the casements, are made up of combinations of white and colored glass. In addition to sculptural elements such as pilasters and cornices that animate the prayer hall, the interior of the Laleli mosque is enlivened by the polychrome arrangement made of marble wall panels that reflect various shades of yellow, red and blue.

The mihrab and minbar are also made of precious marbles. On the exterior, the dome on its octagonal drum sits flatly on the large rectangular mass its understructure, which is crowned with large weight turrets at its corners. The baroque character is expressed with regularly spaced pilasters with spreading capitals that merge into the thick cornice that unites the prayer hall and the courtyard. Concave pilasters are also employed between the dome windows, among them eight curved buttresses.

Minarets
There are two minarets located at either end of the portico flanking the courtyard entrances; they have single balconies and stone caps. The left minaret was built about six years after the completion of the mosque. The construction is two courses of brick alternated with a single layer of cut stone, with the exception of the minarets and superstructure, which are made entirely of cut stone.

Inn
The Çukurçeşme or Sunken Fountain han is also called the Büyük Taş Han or big stone han. Its irregular plan manifests the constraints of the urban fabric at its time of construction. It has a long rectangular porticoed court that is entered through a long vaulted passage to the south; passages here lead into two smaller courtyards. The inn of the complex is located to the north of the mosque on Fethi Bey Street and is still used as a market. The basement of the mosque, which was not originally used for commercial purposes, also serves as a marketplace today.

The plan of this too is almost indescribable. We enter through a very long vaulted passage, with rooms and a small court leading from it, and emerge into a large courtyard, in the middle of which a ramp descends into what were once the stables. Around this porticoed courtyard open rooms of most irregular shape, and other passages lead to two additional small courts with even more irregular rooms! One seems to detect in this the ingenious but perverse mind of Mehmet Tahir Ağa. The han has now been restored and houses a restaurant and shops.

The Basement
The original function of the basement underneath the Laleli mosque is not known. Built of regularly spaced piers and covered with vaults, it remained enclosed until 1957, when its southern wall was torn down during highway expansion. It was then converted into an underground shopping plaza with a western entrance and a row of stores was added facing Ordu Street to the south. The underground plaza has a fountain at its center and is lit through large basement windows placed around the mosque walls.

The Tombs and Cemetery
The Tomb of Sultan Mustafa III and Sultan Selim III and the sabil are located along the cemetery wall to the west of the southwest precinct gate. In addition to Sultan Mustafa III, the tomb houses his mother Mihrişah Sultan, his son and later successor Sultan Selim III, his daughters Hibetullah and Fatma Sultans and Mihrimah Sultan. It is an octagonal building crowned with a dome and preceded by a portico to the north. Its exterior appearance is marked by wide corner pilasters and thick cornices that wrap the building between the two tiers of windows and below the recessed drum.

Sixteenth century tiles adorn the tomb on the interior crowned by a wide band of calligraphy that envelops the walls. A smaller tomb inside the cemetery houses the graves of the Sultan Mustafa III's favorites or Haseki Sultanlar. There is a third, open tomb dedicated to Adilşah Kadın; it is protected by an intricate bronze canopy.

Sabil
The sabil is raised on a circular base and has concave windows facing the street. Its windows are covered with bronze lattices that were originally gilt and the wide segments of its large eave resembles the petals of a flower.

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YENİ VALİDE MOSQUE COMPLEX

Eminönü Square, Fatih - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°01'01.4"N 28°58'19.9"E / 41.017056, 28.972194



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The Yeni Valide Mosque, more widely known as the Yeni or new mosque, is located adjoining the harbor on the southern bank of the Golden Horn, at the foot of the bridge connecting the historic peninsula with Karaköy to the north. Began in 1597 by Safiye Sultan, the mother of Mehmed III (1595-1603) and completed more than half a century later by Turhan Hatice Sultan, the mother of Mehmed IV (1648-1687), the mosque stands in a long tradition of architectural patronage by Ottoman queen mothers or valides. A dense Jewish neighborhood was cleared for the mosque designed by architect Davud Ağa, replaced by Dalgıç Mehmed Ağa after his death in 1598 until work halted in 1603.

Architect Mustafa Ağa completed the mosque between 1661 and 1663 and built a sultan's kiosk (hünkar kasrı), a room for Quran readers (darülkurra), tomb (türbe), Quranic school (sibyan mektebi), sabil (sebil), public fountains (çeşme), stores (dükkan) and a closed spice market known as the Egyptian bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) around the mosque. A room for the mosque timekeeper (muvakkithane) was added in the nineteenth century. Details concerning the construction and organization of the complex are documented in waqf documents of the period kept in the Süleymaniye Library.

The mosque is set parallel to the shoreline, on the northwest-southeast axis. The L-shaped market, adjoined by a cemetery and a tomb to the east, defines a large courtyard on the hillside. Walls that separate the mosque from the lower docklands on the seaside, until their demolition in the nineteenth century, joined the market at either end to enclose an irregularly shaped precinct. Elevated above sea-level on a substructure of wooden pilings similar to the one used at the Büyükçekmece Bridge, the precinct was entered from five gates and gave access to all the subsidiary structures with the exception of the market, which was primarily entered from the street.

With the construction of the Galata Bridge in 1845 and the demolition of the precinct walls, a vibrant square emerged at the waterfront with commercial buildings built along the mosque. The Eminönü square was crossed by tramlines connecting the two sides of the Golden Horn and remained a transportation hub even after its buildings were demolished in the early Republican period to reveal the mosque. First used as an open-air bus terminal, the square largely disappeared through widening of the coastal highway in 1956 and the construction of a higway interchange in 1986 that permanently cut off the mosque from the waterfront.

The mosque courtyard is entered through three portals, one on each side, that are preceded by cascading set of steps. Slightly smaller than the mosque, the rectangular courtyard is enveloped by an arcade on three sides that meets the mosque portico to the southeast; a total of twenty-four domed bays carried on twenty columns. It has two tiers of windows at regular intervals that continue along the portico façade. At the center, is the marble ablution fountain: an octagonal basin enclosed with grilled windows between eight columns that hold up a small dome. Its marble surfaces are richly carved with floral arabesques. Tile panels have been used to decorate the lower sections of the portico façade, which has a mihrab niche and a balcony on either side of the mosque entrance.

The mosque has a plan similar to the Şehzade Mosque built half a century earlier by Mimar Sinan. Its rectangular prayer hall is covered by a large dome at its highest that is carried on pendentives with four grand arches elevated on four colossal piers. The dome is surrounded by four semi-domes, which in turn rest on three small semi-domes (longitudinal axis) or two semi-domes separated by an arch. Four independent domes cover the corners. The small semi-domes, or exedra semi-domes, help bring the upper structure down to the exterior walls except to the northwest, where the wall has been pushed outwards to make space for an internal arcade that houses the women's section at the back of the congregation.

Here, the semi-domes are carried on two smaller piers and two columns that reach the walls and the main piers with arches. The main piers also reach out to buttresses along the exterior walls by means of eight low arches that hang over the internal arcade as it wraps the mosque interior on three sides, ending at the qibla wall. The qibla end of the northeast gallery has been sectioned off to create the sultan's lodge, which is accessed through the sultan's kiosk outside the mosque. There is a marble muezzin's platform adjoining the western pier. Three tiers of windows, in addition to windows at the bases of domes and semi-domes, illuminate the interior.

The late classical period decoration of the interior is dominated by blue and turquoise colored tiles that line the surfaces of the walls, arcades and the piers up to the level of the third windows. Painted arabesques with dominant hues of blue, red and green cover the remaining surfaces of walls, arches and vaulting. A multi-tiered muqarnas cornice braces the structure at the springing of the dome arches, merging with muqarnas pendentives of the exedra semi-domes on its way. There is a lesser cornice below the third windows that is highlighted with gold paint on the piers. The stone carving of the mihrab and the minbar are of note, as well as the mother-of-pearl woodwork of the preacher's pulpit, windowpane and doors.

On the exterior, the ensemble is flanked on either side by a double-story arcade made up of alternating wide and narrow arches and marble balustrades. The arcade is covered with a slanting roof with wide eaves below the third tier of windows, and consists of three sections separated by protruding buttresses. The first section is a single story portico composed of three tall bays and abuts the base of the minaret near the courtyard wall. Reached by a cascading set of steps, the portico gives access to the mosque side entrance and the minaret steps on both sides of the mosque.

The third section of the northeast arcade is a private entryway for the sultan's kiosk protected with richly carved marble gates. There are additional ablution spigots along the basement walls of both arcades. Above, the pyramidal composition of domes and semi-domes is dominated by thick dome buttresses and their balancing turrets. The two minarets, located between the side entrances of the mosque and the courtyard, have three balconies of diminishing size that are adorned with muqarnas pendants and carved balustrades. The mosque was restored by the Directorate of Religious Endowments in 1936.

The Sultan's Kiosk
The Sultan's kiosk is elevated above a vaulted passageway at the eastern corner of the mosque, resting on a watchtower that was once part of the city walls. It is a rectangular apartment composed of a wide corridor with that gives access to two rooms and an iwan that face the Golden Horn to the north. The rooms are equipped by furnaces and have a common lavatory between them. A long ramp, attached to the back of the kiosk, allowed the sultan to accede on his horse and a short passage at the end of the corridor lead into the sultan's lodge inside the mosque. Five stores have been carved into the space underneath the ramp.

On the exterior, the kiosk is picturesque with its projecting sections carried on carved consoles and its wide eaves that shade its simple brick and stone walls. It is equally known for the exquisite decoration of its interior. Sixteenth century Iznik tiles, arranged into large floral panels, cover the walls from the ground to the ceiling. A band of inscriptive tiles separate the two tiers of windows that illuminate its tall interior. The arched top windows feature arabesques of colored glass inside the two rooms and mother-of-pearl has been used to decorate the doors and the wooden panes of casements. The painted wooden dome of the large corner room, hidden under the flat roof of the kiosk, is one of the few remaining of its kind.

The Tomb of Turhan Hatice Sultan
The tomb is sits inside the walled-in cemetery that adjoins the market to the south of the mosque. It is a large domed room with a three-bay portico to the northeast and a vaulted room that projects southwest, and houses the graves of Turhan Hatice Sultan, Sultan Osman III (1618-1622), Sultan Mehmed IV (1648-1687), Sultan Mustafa II (1695-1703), Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) and Sultan Mahmud I (1730-1754), as well as numerous members of the royal family. Three tiers of windows illuminate the interior, which is decorated with floral tiles crowned by an inscriptive tile band above the lower casements. Its painted decoration was revised in 1959 based on the original motifs revealed under plasterwork of later periods.

Two smaller tombs, named Havatin and Cedid Havatin, were added to the northwest of the tomb in the nineteenth century. A small library, built by Sultan Ahmed I (1589-1617), adjoins the portico. The southeast precinct gate was torn down in 1904 along with the Quranic school (sibyan mektebi) and the room for Quran readers (darülkurra) to accommodate a bank headquarters. The sabil remains among office buildings to the southeast of the mosque.

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GAZANFER AĞA MADRASA

Saraçhanebaşı, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'58.7"N 28°57'19.6"E / 41.016306, 28.955444



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Established by Gazanfer Ağa in 1599, it includes a small medrese, the türbe of the founder, and a charming sebil with handsome grilled windows. Gazanfer Ağa was the younger brother of Cafer Ağa, whose medrese we saw next to Haghia Sophia. He was Chief of the White Eunuchs in the reign of Sultan Mehmet III. Gazanfer was the last of the White Eunuchs to control affairs in the Saray, for after his time the Chief Black Eunuch became the dominant figure.

The Gazanfer Ağa complex, which consists of an Ottoman medrese, a shrine and a fountain in Saraçhanebaşı, was restored as the new structure and  re-opened in 1989. Gazanfer Ağa Complex, which was probably built by the Architect Davut Ağa between 1590 and 1591, is one of the rare examples without a mosque in the center. It was restored many times after the fire of 1782 for various reasons.

Gazanfer Ağa built a small medrese and his own turbe near the Aqueduct of Valens and at a short distance from a small hammam designed by Mimar Sinan. Built in 1599, the Gazanfer Ağa Complex contained a medrese (religious school), sabil (water fountain) and a turbe (cemetary). The contrast in the typically Ottoman architecture, with its multiple domes and small turrets, is amplified by the shadowing Roman aqueduct next door.

It is the first place in Ottoman architecture where the patron’s tomb was built next to his work. The dodecagonal plan tomb was built with cut küfeki stone and it contains three sarcophagi. The madrasah with 17 rooms, which fulfilled its main function until 1914, was subsequently closed.

After the restoration between 1943 and 1944, the madrasah hosted the Belediye Museum until 1989. It was converted into the Cartoon and Humour Museum after the Belediye Museum.

Two triangular office towers rising over the ground floor pedestal and oriented to the roof garden on top of the ground floor. While their north and south façades are blank against the extreme weather conditions, other diagonal façades look to richly landscaped roof gardens.

Gazanfer Ağa and his brother Cafer Ağa were taken prisoner during the campaign of Hungary, and later entered the service of Şehzade Selim by converting into Islam. Şehzade Selim, before he ascended to the throne in 1566, invited Gazanfer Ağa and his brother Cafer Ağa to the palace to join his household, which they could do only as eunuch. Cafer died during surgery, but Gazanfer worked in senior positions for 30 year, before being executed by fatwa in the rebellion in 1603.

Gazanfer Ağa was the Head of the White Eunuchs had been captured when he was a boy; he became a servant of the future Sultan Selim II who convinced him to become an eunuch. With the favour of Nurbanu and Safiye Sultan he became one of the most influential persons in the government.

He served three sultans, but in 1603 Sultan Mehmet III had to face an almost open rebellion of the highest ranks of the army; they accused Gazanfer of ill advising the Sultan Mehmet III eventually was forced to sacrifice Gazanfer, who was murdered before his very eyes. Gazanfer was the last of the White Eunuchs to be the chief of the Harem; Sultan Mehmet III gave this role to a Black Eunuch.

Gazanfer Ağa was executed in 1603, having involved himself too deeply in the affairs of the Harem. The külliye was restored in 1945 and originally housed the Municipal Museum; it now serves as the Museum of Cartoons and Humour. Like most city museums, it has a rather provincial and neglected look, though some of the exhibits are not without interest. The cells of the medrese have had doors cut between them to form the galleries of the museum.

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