Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City (41 page)

Retracing our steps, we walk back uphill along Ak
ş
emseddin Caddesi for about 250 metres until we come to a square dominated on its left side by a fine classical mosque. This is Mesih Pa
ş
a Camii, built by an unknown architect in 1585. (The mosque is popularly attributed to Sinan, but without evidence.) The founder was the eunuch Mesih Mehmet Pa
ş
a, infamous for his cruelty as Governor of Egypt, who became Grand Vezir for a short time at the age of 90 in the reign of Murat III. The courtyard of the mosque is attractive but rather sombre. It consists of the usual domed porticoes under which, rather unusually, are the ablution fountains; this is because the place of the
ş
ad
ı
rvan in the centre of the courtyard has been taken by the picturesque open türbe of the founder. The mosque is preceded by a double porch, but the wooden roof of the second porch has disappeared, leaving the arcades to support nothing; the inner porch has the usual five bays. In plan the building is an octagon inscribed in a square with semidomes as squinches in the diagonals; to north and south are galleries. But the odd feature is that what in most mosques of this form are aisles under the galleries are here turned into porches. That is, where you would expect an arcade of columns, you find a wall with windows opening onto an exterior gallery which, in turn, opens to the outside by enormous arches, now glazed in. The mihrab and mimber are very fine works in marble, as are the grilles above the windows. Tiles of the best period complete the decoration of this interesting building.

If we leave by the south gate of the mosque and follow the winding road uphill, we come in a moment or two to a mosque of a very different style indeed. Hirka-i
Ş
erif Camii, the Mosque of the Holy Mantle, was built in 1851 by Sultan Abdül Mecit to house the second of the two mantles of the Prophet which are among his chief relics in Istanbul. (The other is in its own treasury in the Saray.) The mosque is in the purest
Empire
style and just misses being a great success, as do most buildings in that style; all the same it is very entertaining. A monumental gateway leads to a spacious paved courtyard; the two tall minarets are extremely slender and have balconies in the form of Corinthian capitals. The façade is a little forbidding, more like a palace than a mosque, but the interior is very pleasant; it is in the form of an octagon with an outside gallery. The walls and dome, of a greenish brown, are covered with plaster mouldings of garlands and vines in buff, done with a certain bravura but also with elegance. The mihrab, mimber and kürsü, elaborately carved, are of a deep purple conglomerate marble flecked with grey, green, blue, black and yellow, and highly polished. Part of the decoration consists of elegant inscriptions by the famous calligrapher Mustafa Izzet Efendi, others by Sultan Abdül Mecit, who was himself an able calligrapher. This is a building which should not be missed by anyone who delights in the follies and oddities of architecture as long as they have a certain verve and charm.

Hirka-i
Ş
erif Camii is built on a high terrace, partly artificial; to the south a long staircase leads down to a lower monumental gateway opening from the street below, Keçeciler Caddesi, the Avenue of the Goat Herder. If we turn right (west) and follow this street, we come after 500 metres or so to a little mosque on the left which is of no interest save that its architect was Sinan. It was built in 1560, as an inscription shows, by a certain Hürrem who was a
çavu
ş
(messenger) in the Divan. It is of the rectangular type with wooden roof and porch; restorations are recorded in 1844 and 1901. Perhaps because of these, it has lost any charm it may once have had.

Just across the lane from the garden of the mosque there is a pleasant teahouse named after Koca Mimar Sinan, the architect. One might feel inclined to rest here for awhile and have a glass or two of tea before strolling back to the main avenue.

Our present tour takes us from the Fatih district on a circuit around the Fifth and Sixth Hills of Stamboul. Here we escape from almost all indications of a modern city and stroll through districts that have changed far less than in the tourist centres of Istanbul. Tourists rarely come here, for with one or two exceptions the monuments, though often interesting historically and architecturally, are not of the first importance. We come upon colourful street-markets, picturesque byways and plane-tree-shaded squares reminiscent of Ottoman Istanbul. An exploration of this out-of-the-way part of the town is rewarding as much for its village-like atmosphere as for the occasional Ottoman mosque or Byzantine church that lies hidden away down its back streets, or perches grandly on some terrace overlooking the Golden Horn.

Our starting-point will be the outer courtyard of Fatih Camii, from where the first part of our stroll will take us along the southern slopes of the Fifth and Sixth Hills, after which we will circle back in a clockwise loop. We leave through the gate to the right at the western end of the courtyard. This brings us to Darü
ş
ş
afaka Caddesi, which extends north-west towards the Fifth Hill. This avenue takes us through the lively district of Çar
ş
amba, which takes its name from the bustling open market that throngs its streets on that day. This is a travelling market that sets up its stalls and barrows in different parts of the town on different days; thus there are neighbourhoods in Istanbul named after almost all of the days in the week.

A few hundred metres along Darü
ş
ş
afaka Caddesi we see off on the right the famous institution from which the avenue takes its name, the Darü
ş
ş
afaka Lisesi. Darü
ş
ş
afaka, founded in 1855, is an orphanage which has one of the finest secondary schools in Turkey. The school has moved to another location and its original home in Çar
ş
amba is now empty.

KUMRULU MESC
İ
D
İ

Soon after passing Darü
ş
ş
afaka we reach Yavuz Selim Caddesi and turn left. We walk along this avenue for about 150 metres and then turn right at the first through street. A short way along on the left we come to a little mosque called Kumrulu Mescidi, the Mescit of the Turtle-Dove. The mosque takes its name from a fragment of Byzantine sculpture used in the adjoining çe
ş
me, showing two turtledoves drinking from the Fountain of Life. This mosque is of interest principally because its founder and builder was Atik Sinan, the Chief Architect of Sultan Mehmet II and the designer of the original Mosque of the Conqueror. Atik Sinan’s tombstone is to be seen in the garden of the mosque, with an inscription which tells us that he was executed by Fatih in 1471.

Continuing on the same street we come on our left to the beautiful mosque of Ni
ş
anc
ı
Mehmet Pa
ş
a. This is one of the very best of the classical mosques – and it is
not by
Sinan. (The mosque is, of course, popularly ascribed to Sinan, but is does not appear in the best texts of the
Tezkere
, the list of his works.) The identity of the architect, unfortunately, is not known, but it was built for the Keeper of the Seal (Ni
ş
anc
ı
) Mehmet Pa
ş
a between 1584 and 1588. From a distance one sees the elegance of line and the masterly arrangement of the upper structure: the great dome surrounded by the eight little weight-turrets (the continuation of the columns that support the dome arches), the eight semidomes of two sizes, and the minaret unusually close to the dome base – an excellently proportioned distribution of curves and verticals. One enters through the usual charming courtyard, the arches of which are of the ogive type; under the porch of five bays an inscription with the
tu
ğ
ra
of Mustafa III records a restoration in 1766, presumably after the very severe earthquake of that year.