SOKULLU ŞEHİT MEHMET PAŞA MOSQUE

Kadırga, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'18.0"N 28°58'19.0"E / 41.005000, 28.971944



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Comissioned by grand vizier Sokullu Mehmet Paşa (1506-1579) for his wife Ismihan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim II (1566-1574), the Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Complex at Kadırga was built by Sinan simultaneously with the Sultan Selim II Complex in Edirne. Most probably, Sinan designed the mosque before moving to Edirne and returned periodically to supervise construction. The four line inscription over the portal of the mosque gives 1571 as its construction date, and indicates that the site also housed the (collapsed) Aya Anastasia Church.

The mosque is officially named after Princess Esmahan, but is more commonly known for its association with her far more famous husband. The complex is composed of a mosque, a madrasa (theological school attached to a mosque), and a tekke (dervish lodge).

It is surrounded by walls that measure approximately two meters. There are three different entrances to the courtyard, which has a domed fountain in the middle. From the fountain, you can see the rooms in the madrasah. The audio and lighting system of the mosque is quite good, just like in all Mimar Sinan-built structures. Like in many historic buildings, the mosque is decorated with İznik tiles and handmade artwork.

It is also said that pieces of the Black Stone - also known as al Hajar ul Aswad, located in the Kaaba, whose origin is believed to date back to Prophet Adam - are embedded in the mosque's mihrab (alter), minber (pulpit) and dome sections. The mosque is important in this respect as well. There are 4 small pieces of Hajar al Aswad embedded in the walls. Each one is about 3 centimeters by 2 centimeters. One is over the mihrab, one is below the lower "pulpit", another is above the upper pulpit and the last is over the entrance door. The lowest one, below the lower pulpit can just be touched by standing on a red-carpeted step.

It was built on an inclined slope, where the Aya Anastasia Church had already been placed during the Byzantine period. The architecture of the complex is Sinan the Architecture,  who marked to the Ottoman Architecture. Prayer hall of the complex’s mosque, 15.30 x 18.80 m, is placed on six pier foundation and capped by a hexagonal dome with a diameter of 13 m. 

The decorative niche (mihrab) with its prismatic shape and pulpit are the finest example of marble workmanship of the time. Especially, the tile wainscot of the pulpit’s cone and providing glazed tiles on the both side of the niche have added an orginal pleasure to visual integrity. There are totally more than 90 windows in the mosque and these are usually concentrating on lateral facade and pulley. On the minaret of the mosque with a single sherefe (minaret balcony), which was built from cut stone, vertical lines exist that the Sinan the Architecture had already used in his works.

There is a madrasa of the complex that has 16 rooms and a classroom that the ceiling was composed of a dome in the inner court of the mosque. In the middle of the court, there is a fountain integrated with the court, which has also artistic value.

The complex is built on a site that descends to the south. The madrasa, the mosque and the tekke are placed from south to north. The main entrance to the complex is at the lowest part of the complex on the south, five meters below the courtyard level. One passes below the classroom of the madrasa and climbs a staircase to reach the courtyard. This ascending entrance creates a direct vista to the dodecagonal fountain with its tapering dome and the portico, sequentially rising to the graded structure of the mosque behind. From within, the modest-sized courtyard is dominated by the height of the mosque.

The courtyard is surrounded by the portico of the mosque on the south and by the madrasa on the other three sides. The classroom is elevated and fronted by a domed bay, and is accessed by two staircases along its sides. In volume, it is a square box measuring about six and a half meters per side; it is lit by twelve windows in two rows. Together with the classroom, the madrasa consists of sixteen symmetrically arranged domed cells, which are each about four meters wide. These cells are accessed through the doors beneath the portico, which is supported by eighteen columns.

The toilets of the madrasa are placed behind the eastern cells. The other two entrances to the courtyard are located at the northern ends of the western and eastern wings of the madrasa. The entrances lead to the side bays of the seven-bayed mosque portico. The portico encloses the (proportionally small) entrances to the minaret, which has a single balcony and is located on the southeastern corner of the prayer hall, and the entrances to the muezzin rooms above the side entrances.

The prayer hall is entered through the deep portal in the middle bay of the portico, and measures about fifteen and a half by nineteen meters. The elevated balcony over its entrance enhances the instant perception of the interior space. The main dome, which measures thirteen meters in diameter, surmounts the central space with an apex of twenty-six meters. The load from the dome is transferred to six "elephant feet," or colossal piers, located on the vertices of a slightly compressed equilateral hexagon by arches flanked by half domes.

Unlike in conventional placement, the semi-domes fit into the asymmetrical triangles between the main dome and the walls of the prayer hall, creating an innovative adoption of the structure to a new structural schema. This treatment of the zone of transition is unique to this mosque. These piers are elegantly embedded into the walls of the prayer hall, assisting the unity of the interior space. Four of these six feet, which have rectangular sections, divide the south and east walls into three sections. The western and eastern walls, with the two polygonal feet embedded in their centers, contain the narrow side galleries, where flat roofs are carried by iron structural members.

The marble platform for the müezzin, carried over five columns, is placed to the east of the entrance in the prayer hall. The graded structural development of the mosque on the exterior reflects the spatial configuration on the interior, with the graded levels of the muezzin's platform, the side galleries, and the balcony over the entrance. A total of ninety-eight windows light the prayer hall, eighteen of which pierce the drum of the dome, and the stained glass in the windows creates a colorful ambiance.

The mosque is highly ornamented, beginning with the portico frames; the tiled decoration climbs to the pendentives of the dome in the middle of the qibla wall. The marble mihrab, ornamented with polygonal arabesque and muqarnas carvings, is placed between the two tiled frames on the qibla wall. Stained glass is framed with plaster above the mihrab, and the tiled crown of the minbar completes the ornamental scheme. Compared to its contemporaries, this mosque also contains a large number of inscriptions. The tekke, which is entered from the south, is located four meters above the level of the mosque.

A domed entrance bay leads to the entrance hall, which is comprised of ten bays arranged in rows of five. Excepting the bay attached to the door of the religious ceremony space (tevhidhane), which is surmounted by a mirror vault, all of the bays are topped by domes. The religious ceremonial space is a single domed structure which measures about twelve and a half by seven and a half meters. Centered in a courtyard, this domed structure is surrounded by cells on its west and east sides. Both the eastern and western cell rows, which are, respectively, one and two stories high, are fronted by porticos.

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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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MERKEZ EFENDİ MOSQUE

Zeytinburnu - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°00'57.0"N 28°55'11.0"E / 41.015833, 28.919722



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Merkezefendi Mosque dates back to 1580 and was once part of a large complex but many of the buildings have since been lost.  It was built with the assistance of Şah Sultan, a daughter of Sultan Selim II.  It underwent a complete makeover in 1837 and inside the stone exterior there is a lovely wooden interior that has a curtained mihrab painted on the back wall. Merkez Efendi was famous for his strength as well as for inventing mesir paste and having served as a doctor.

The Merkez Efendi Mosque was built on the site of a dervish lodge which had been commissioned by Süleyman the Great and built by the architect Sinan in 1517. After the death of Merkez Efendi, the mosque that bears his name was built in his memory between 1552-1572.

According to another story, the mosque’s construction began in 1580 and it opened to worshipers in 1582. Restored during the reign of Sultan Mahmud II, the mosque still bears many of the features of the original.

Built on a rectangular plan, the mosque is made of stone. Its door and windows were made from round brick arches The tomb of Merkez Efendi and his family, a public fountain, a cistern to supply water to the mosque, and the çilehane are all found in the mosque’s wide courtyard.

The wooden mansion on the right used to be the harem building of the Merkezefendi complex. It has been restored and will most likely be used to hold cultural activities in the future. There are other aspects of the square that captivated us upon first sight such as its popular grilled meat restaurant, a Turkish bath waiting to be restored and some wooden mansions. Yet the cultural valley does not only comprise this square.

The beautiful Abdülbaki Paşa Library (Neyhane) can be found just outside of the gate; the mosque was originally a primary school and was then used as a storage facility until its restoration in 2007.

Today you will find a tearoom, a library and a cultural centre with lovely painted panels reworked on the domed ceiling.  Close by is a large wooden mansion the Merkezefendi Konağı or Mansion that was restored in 2009.

Tomb
The tomb of Merkez Efendi (1463-1552) is attached to the mosque and where many pilgrims still visit today. Süleyman the Great frequently visited his tomb which is located in the mosque’s courtyard.

Çilehane
Next to the tomb is a çilehane built in keeping with the beliefs and traditions of Merkez Efendi’s sect. Merkez Efendi was said to gone here to isolate himself from the world.

Cemetery
The Merkezefendi Cemetery (Turkish: Merkezefendi Mezarlığı) is a burial ground situated in Merkezefendi neighborhood of Zeytinburnu district on the European part of Istanbul, Turkey.
Many renowned intellectuals, writers and artists rest in this old cemetery covering an area of 27,800 m2 (299,000 sq ft). In 2007, the cemetery was fully renovated. Currently, burials are allowed only for the members of families with existing graves

The cemetery was established in the 16th century with the construction of the tomb of Merkez Efendi at this location. It was extended in the 1950s, and another cemetery, the Kozlu Cemetery was established 100 m (330 ft) far from this place.

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