AYAZMA MOSQUE

Şemsipaşa, Üsküdar - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°01'22.0"N 29°00'31.0"E / 41.022778, 29.008611



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It is located in Üsküdar, between Salacak and Şemsipaşa on a hill before Marmara overlooking Kızkulesi. Sultan Mustafa III (1717-1774) had the Ayazma Mosque, which rises between the Salacak and Şemsipaşa districts of Üsküdar, built by the architect, Mehmed Tahir Ağa, in 1761. In addition, the mosque, which features predominately western style architectural aspects, was built in memory of his mother Mihrişah Emine Hatun and his elder brother Şehzade Süleyman.

It is understood from certain sources that the name of the mosque comes from the Ayazma Palace which had once been located on the site. The mosque was named after a water spring that was sacred among the ancient Greeks; this spring is located to the left of the street. The mosque is part of a large complex that consists of a school for children, baths, and a clock room. The mosque used to be in the square of the Ayazma Palace, but the palace is no longer standing.

If one leaves the mosque precinct by the back gate and follows the winding street outside, keeping firmly to the right, one comes before long to an imposing baroque mosque known as Ayazma Camii. It is one of the more successful of the baroque mosques, especially on the exterior. A handsome entrance portal opens onto a courtyard from which a pretty flight of semicircular steps leads up to the mosque porch.

On the left is a large cistern and beyond an elaborate two-storeyed colonnade gives access to the imperial loge. The upper structure is also diversified with little domes and turrets, and many windows give light to the interior. The interior, as generally in baroque mosques, is less successful, though the grey marble gallery along the entrance wall, supported by slender columns, is effective.

The Ayazma Mosque has been renovated several times during its lifetime. A new minaret has been built twice on the site of the demolished minaret. The muvakkitkane (time-keeping room) and the bath, which was built to generate income for the mosque, as well as many stores of the mosque have not reached the present day. According to the archival document, Ayazma Palace, in the place of Ayazma Mosque, was restored in 1740s and allocated to ambassador of Iran.

Birdhouses are built into the walls on each side of the doors. There is a sundial in the corner of the right façade. The pulpit of this mosque is a masterpiece of stonework. Dozens of ostrich eggs were hung on the circular oil lamp above in order to prevent the formation of cobwebs. There is no clear reason as to why the eggs have been removed today. In the courtyard there is a very large pool that was intended to be used in case of fire.

The mosque, which is placed in the middle of a wide field, is located on a hillside overlooking Istanbul. It is said that the architect, Mehmed Tahir Ağa, put 8,750 eggs, 625 okka of honey (an okka is the old Turkish weight measure, equalling 1,285 gr.) and quicksilver worth 1,080 kuruş (a kuruş is one hunderdth of the old Turkish pound) into the mixture he used as cement.

In addition to Western architectural elements, classical designs have added a different complexion to the structure. The main space of the building is built on a rectangular plan and is covered by a dome resting on four elephant legs. The Hünkar Köşk (Royal residence) of the building, built next to the mosque, is situated on the left hand side of the main site. A variety of colourful stones are used to decorate the sermon area, the niche, and the pulpit of the mosque.

Decorations with gold latten are used in the royal residence and are the creation of highly skilled craftsmanship. Furthermore, the pulpit, composed of colourful, engraved marble stones, as well as the niche, made of porphyry stones, are further reflections of the skilled workmanship of the building. The scripts on the portal gate belong to the calligrapher, Seyyid Abdullah, and scripts on the plaster windows belong to calligrapher, Seyyid Mustafa.

The structure is understood to have been dated to 1760 - 1761 from the inscriptions upon the door. According to the expense book, held very carefuly, 506.095 piasters 49 coins were spent for the mosque. The mosque inscription was inscribed with talik calligraphy by Sheikh ul-islam and Calligrapher Veliyüddin Efendi. The tiles on the wall of royal box are Italian.

The altar is made of white porphyry and the carved pulpit is made of colored marble. Calligraphies in the mosque belong to Seyyid Abdullah and calligrapher Seyyid Mustafa. Bird’s nests on the outer walls of the mosque and the sundial on the right wall are noteworthy. The central dome with 20 windows is supported by four elephant feet. The mosque has 86 windows in total.

There is a fountain located on one corner of the wall surrounding the courtyard of the Ayazma Mosque that was built during the same year with the mosque. The inscription written on the fountain belongs to the poet, Zihni.There are graves of several notable individuals of the Ottoman Palace in the mosque’s graveyard. The big marble fountain, in the corner of the wall surrounding the large courtyard, is understood from the inscription of Poet Zihni that it was built along with the mosque in 1761.

When Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries in 1826, he removed every symbol that could act as a reminder of them, including their tombstones. The only two tombs of Janissaries that have survived until today are in the graveyard of this mosque.

Leaving by the south gate and following the street to the east, one comes to a wider street, Doğancılar Caddesi, with two pretty baroque çeşmes at the intersection; turning right one finds at the end of this street a severely plain türbe built by Sinan for Hacı Mehmet Paşa, who died in 1559. It stands on an octagonal terrace bristling with tombstones and overshadowed by a dying terebinth tree.

It is one of the mosques under influence of European artistic style. It was commissioned by Sultan Mustafa his mother Mihrişah Emine Sultan. One can take the stairs to go up to the mosque from a three-gate courtyard. The minaret has single balcony. Central dome which has 20 windows is situated on four elephant legs. The floor is paved with marble. It has a total of 86 windows.

The mosque is part of a large complex that consists of a school for children, baths, and a clock room. There is a very beautiful fountain in the left corner. The mosque used to be in the square of the Ayazma Palace, but the palace is no longer standing. Birdhouses are built into the walls on each side of the doors. There is a sundial in the corner of the right façade. The pulpit of this mosque is a masterpiece of stonework.

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PİYALE PAŞA (TERSANE) MOSQUE COMPLEX

Kasımpaşa, Beyoğlu - Istanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°02'41.0"N 28°57'57.0"E / 41.044722, 28.965833



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The Piyale Pasha Mosque also known as the Tersane Camii (literally: Arsenal Mosque), is an Ottoman mosque located in the Kasımpaşa neighborhood of Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey. The complex was constructed on the site of a former dockyard.

Vizier and Grand Admiral Mehmet Piyale Pasa (1553-1577), who was married to Gevherhan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim II  (1524-1574), was originally Croatian and his father was a shoemaker. A six domed, Piyale Pasha (Shipyard) Mosque was built for Admiral Piyale Pasha in 1573 by Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan. The mosque was built between 1565 and 1573. In 1890, some buildings of the mosque and the foundation were renewed.

Piyale Paşa Mosque was built by Architect Sinan in the Kasımpaşa district of Beyoglu county in 1573. The complex is composed of a mosque, a Sıbyan Mektebi (Ottoman elementary - primary school), a bath, a fountain, a tekke (dervish lodge), a tomb, and an arasta (Ottoman bazaar). Today, only the mosque and the tomb have survived to the present day.

The six domes, each approximately nine meters in diameter, are carried by two tapered granite piers in the center of the prayer hall. They rest on the qibla and along the sides of the entrance walls. Pendentives enable the transition from the round dome to the rectilinear walls. The use of these piers in the central space could have resulted in a loss of spatial integrity, but the slenderness of the piers balances their placement. This same slenderness appears in the slim walls, which are buttressed along the qibla. The tapering buttresses along the qibla wall support the lateral thrust of the domes.

Unlike other mosques designed by Sinan that have a large central dome, the Piyale Pasha Mosque is constructed with six identical domes, arranged as two rows of three, each with a diameter of about 9 m (30 ft). The domes are supported in the center of the prayer hall by a pair of slender granite pillars. The minaret is placed in the centre of the anti-qibla wall. It was rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century.

However, the wall thickness increases dramatically opposite the mihrab, in the middle of the entrance wall where the minaret stands. The minaret is placed in the centre of the anti-qibla wall. The window gaps of the mosque are designed as a tri-serial which have a great impact on the skylight of the mosque. The stained-glass in the windows of the qibla wall is not original.

The mosque was built on an area measuring 55 x 45 m. Several the walls of the complex are constructed from cut stones, whereas other parts are built from rubble stones. The ceiling of the harim (sanctum sanctorum) of the mosque, spanning an area of 30.50 x 19.70 m, is covered by 6 domes, each of a diameter of 9 meters. Both the dome composing the ceiling structure and the arched roof are made of brick. The weight of the dome, supported by pendentives, is distributed between two granite columns and piers.

This same slenderness appears in the slim walls, which are buttressed along the qibla. The tapering buttresses along the qibla wall support the lateral thrust of the domes. However, the wall thickness increases dramatically opposite the mihrab, in the middle of the entrance wall where the minaret stands.

This platform is supported by pointed arches that rest on six slender columns. The sequential layout of the muezzin's platform and the minaret strengthens the emphasis on the qibla axis. However, the exterior expression is in turn weakened by the unusual location of the minaret and unresolved issues of proportion. The northeastern and northwestern corners of the entrance wall are articulated with rectangular stair shafts which lead to the side platforms as well as the upper porticos.

Another exceptional aspect of the Piyale Pasa Mosque is the double-story porticos, which consist of cross vaults carried by rectangular columns at the base with galleries above. Ninety marble columns carried the gallery roof; today, most of these columns, along with the roof, have disappeared. The mosque's fenestration pattern of four rows of different aperture sizes is also unlike that present in Sinan's other works.

The use of granite columns instead of elephant feet pillars, which bears the central dome similar to earlier mosques, is a different example in itself. The columns in the courtyard must belong to a madrasah and a lodge are no longer. On the tile ribbon, inside the mosque, Sura of Fatiha is written.

The unusual design approach found in this mosques prompts two different conclusions: it may one of Sinan's more experimental designs, or it could have been designed by another architect, possibly working under Sinan's supervision. As the mosque is not mentioned in memoir's of Sinan's work, evidence points to the latter.

Unlike Sinan's other mosques, where the spatial and structural composition develop around a single central dome, the Piyale Pasa Mosque is a six-domed structure in which the identical domes are arranged in two rows of three. The prayer hall measures about thirty and a half meters by twenty meters, with additional bays on both ends of the domed bays.

The unusual design approach found in this mosques prompts two different conclusions: it may one of Sinan's more experimental designs, or it could have been designed by another architect, possibly working under Sinan's supervision. As the mosque is not mentioned in memoir's of Sinan's work, evidence points to the latter.

The two entrances of the mosque are placed on either side of the minaret, and both entrances have two windows on their sides. This symmetrical approach works well on both the exterior and the interior, given the three-bay structure of the mosque, which embodies a strong middle axis and two identical wings. The muezzin's platform, located just behind the minaret wall, has a better placement than is usually found in single-domed structures.

This platform is supported by pointed arches that rest on six slender columns. The sequential layout of the muezzin's platform and the minaret strengthens the emphasis on the qibla axis. However, the exterior expression is in turn weakened by the unusual location of the minaret and unresolved issues of proportion.

The northeastern and northwestern corners of the entrance wall are articulated with rectangular stair shafts which lead to the side platforms as well as the upper porticos. Another exceptional aspect of the Piyale Pasa Mosque is the double-story porticos, which consist of cross vaults carried by rectangular columns at the base with galleries above. Ninety marble columns carried the gallery roof; today, most of these columns, along with the roof, have disappeared.

The niche of the mosque overlaid Iznik tiles with a plant motif and a ceramic ring with a Qur’anic verse on an arc-shape frame which supports the dome adorning the architectural aesthetics of the mosque. The script of the ceramic ring was written by calligrapher Çerkez Hasan Çelebi. Despite the decoration of the mihrab (niche), the pulpit of the mosque is highly ordinary.

A number of identical Iznik tiled lunette panels that are now on display in different museums including the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are believed to have been removed from the Piyale Pasha Mosque in the 19th century. The panels would have been placed above the lower row of windows. Two tiles from another lunette panel and a pair of tiles that probably came from the mihrab were sold at auction by Christie's in 2004.

The mosque's fenestration pattern of four rows of different aperture sizes is also unlike that present in Sinan's other works. The walls of the mosque are made of cut stone and rough stone, while the domes and vaults are brick. The minbar is marble. Remarkable blue Iznik tiles with white inscriptions, crafted by Cerkez Hasan Çelebi, encircle the prayer hall between the second and third rows of windows. The inscription under the copper-covered crown of the minaret dates the restoration of the minaret to the end of the eighteen century.

An inscription of the Fatiha verse of the Koran is to be found on the band of tiles that circles the interior. Around three walls of the interior are a row of Iznik tiles with inscriptions in a white thuluth script on a cobalt-blue background. The interior walls are now whitewashed but they were originally decorated.

The minaret of the mosque is made of cut limestone and only has a single sherefe (minaret balcony) which peculiarly rises from the level of the niche. Alluding to the marine identity of the Grand Admiral Piyale Pasha, the minaret reminds one of a mast, rising above the deck of a ship. Despite some stolen pieces, the mihrap inside has retained its magnificence.

It was rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century. After a recent restoration project which was completed in 2007, the mosque has been opened to public again.

Tomb
Piyale Pasha died on 21 January 1578 and is buried at the Piyale Pasha Mosque in Istanbul which he had built in his final years. In the plain tomb, which is constructed on an octagonal plan in which the builder of the complex, Piyale Paşa, is burried, there are a total of 13 different graves, including three sarcophaguses and ten marble graves in the tomb. The domed octagonal mausoleum to the northwest of the mosque contains the tomb of Piyale Pasha together with those of his sons and daughters.

In the octagonal tomb built with küfeki stone, lie the marble sarcophagi of Piyale Pasha and his family. The domed octagonal mausoleum to the northwest of the mosque contains the tomb of Piyale Pasha together with those of his sons and daughters. Altogether there are thirteen sarcophagi. His wife, Gevherhan Sultan (daughter of Sultan Selim II), remarried and is entombed in Sultan Selim II's mausoleum next to Hagia Sophia.

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ERTUĞRUL TEKKE MOSQUE

Yıldız, Beşiktaş, İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 41°02'44.0"N 29°00'30.0"E / 41.045556, 29.008333



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The Ertuğrul Tekke Mosque, (Turkish: Ertuğrul Tekke Camii), is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in Yıldız neighbourhood, Serencebey rise of Beşiktaş district in Istanbul, Turkey. A late Ottoman period mosque, it is constructed as a külliye consisting of a tekke, guest house, türbe, fountain, and library in addition to the mosque.

The construction of the mosque and the külliye complex is commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II, and finished in 1887. It is dedicated to the founder of the Medeni branch of Shadhili (Turkish: Şaziliye) tariqa, a Tunisian sufi, Sheikh Hamza Zafir. The mosque is named after Ertuğrul Gazi, the father of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Osman I as a commendation to him.

The name also comes from the Ertuğrul regiment, a royal palace guard regiment who is compromised of Turks from the Domaniç region. Initially the complex only consisted of the mosque, tekke, and the guesthouse.

After the death of Sheikh Hamza Zafir in 1903, his türbe is constructed next to the mosque by the Italian architect Raimondo D'Aronco between 1905 and 1906. The library and the fountain are also added in this expansion. After the passing of Sheikh Hamza Zafir, his two brothers Muhammed Zafir Efendi and Beşir Zafir Efendi became the Sheikhs of the tekke. They are also buried in the türbe next to their elder brother.

The complex is mainly built as a guesthouse to various sheikhs and Islamic scholars that visits Istanbul from the Islamic world in an effort to strengthen the power of the position of the Caliphate in the Islamic world.

After the abolition of tekke's in 1925, the mosque and tekke are closed and the two guesthouse buildings are used as a primary school, Şair Nedim Primary School. Due to extensive wear over the years, all the buildings are closed in 1960. The mosque has been restored between 1969 and 1973 by the General Directorate for Foundations of the Republic of Turkey and it is opened to public in 1973.

Recently, all the buildings except the guesthouses have undergone through another restoration process. The restoration is started in 2008 and lasted for two years. The mosque and türbe opened to the public on 21 May 2010 by President Abdullah Gül. As of 2010, both the guesthouses are currently in a ruined state and are not used.

The mosque and the guesthouses are wooden constructions and represents the classical architecture of the late Ottoman period. The tomb, library, and the fountain are built in the Art Nouveau style.

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