Istanbul Guide

99

1 SIGHTS GRAND BAZAAR

dates from the same period and functioned as a waiting area and retreat for the sul tans. It comprises a salon, bedchamber and toilet and is decorated with exquisite İ znik tiles throughout. Entry is via an extremely long and wide staircase that is now ulitised by the İ stanbul Ticaret Odas ı (Chamber of Commerce) as a temporary exhibition space. The kasr ı opens when exhibitions are being staged. These tend to open on the second Thursday of each month and have a life of two weeks. Check the Yeni Cami Hünkâr Kasr ı Sergi Salonu Facebook page for details. NEW MOSQUE MOSQUE Map p242 (Yeni Camii; Yenicamii Meydan ı Sokak, Eminönü; j Eminönü) Only in İ stanbul would a 400-year-old mosque be called ‘new’. Constructed between 1597 and 1665, its design references both the Blue Mosque and the Süleymaniye Mosque, with a large forecourt and a square sanctuary surmounted by a series of semidomes crowned by a grand dome. The interior is richly decorated with gold leaf, İ znik tiles and carved marble. Originally commissioned by Valide Sul tan Safiye, mother of Sultan Mehmet III, the mosque was completed six sultans later by order of Valide Sultan Turhan Hadice, mother of Sultan Mehmet IV. The site had earlier been occupied by a community of Karaite Jews, radical dis senters from Orthodox Judaism. When the valide sultan decided to build her grand mosque here, the Karaites were moved to Hasköy, a district further up the Golden Horn that still bears traces of their presence. The mosque’s proportions aren’t as pleasing as the city’s other imperial mosques and neither are its tiles. This re flects the fact that there was a diminution in the quality of the products coming out of the İ znik workshops in the second half of the 17th century. Compare the tiles here with the exquisite examples found in the nearby Rüstem Pa ş a Mosque, which are from the high period of İ znik tile work, and this will immediately become apparent. Nonetheless, the mosque is a popular place of worship and a much-loved adornment to the city skyline. Note that it is closed to visitors during prayer times and on Fridays before 2.30pm.

MARKET

See p93. SÜLEYMANIYE MOSQUE

MOSQUE

See p96. SPICE BAZAAR

MARKET

See p98. RÜSTEM PA Ş A MOSQUE

MOSQUE Map p242 (Rüstem Pa ş a Camii; Has ı rc ı lar Cad desi, Rüstem Pa ş a; j Eminönü) Nestled in the middle of the busy Tahtakale shop ping district, this diminutive mosque is a gem. Dating from 1560, it was designed by Sinan for Rüstem Pa ş a, son-in-law and grand vizier of Süleyman the Magnificent. A showpiece of the best Ottoman archi tecture and tile work, it is thought to have been the prototype for Sinan’s greatest work, the Selimiye Camii in Edirne. The mosque is easy to miss because it’s not at street level. There’s a set of access stairs on Has ı rc ı lar Caddesi and another on the small street that runs right (north) off Has ı rc ı lar Caddesi towards the Golden Horn. At the top of the stairs, there’s a ter race and the mosque’s colonnaded porch. You’ll immediately notice the exquisite panels of İ znik tiles set into the mosque’s facade. The interior is covered in more tiles and features a lovely dome, supported by four tiled pillars. The preponderance of tiles was Rüstem Pa ş a’s way of signalling his wealth and in fluence, with İ znik tiles being particularly expensive and desirable. It may not have assisted his passage into the higher realm though, because by all accounts he was a loathsome character. His contemporaries dubbed him Kehle-i-Ikbal (the Louse of Fortune) because he was found to be infect ed with lice on the eve of his marriage to Mihrimah, Süleyman’s favourite daughter. He is best remembered for plotting with Roxelana to turn Süleyman against his fa vourite son, Mustafa. They were successful and Mustafa was strangled in 1553 on his father’s orders. HÜNKÂR KASRI MUSEUM Map p242 (Hünkâr Mahfili; Arpac ı lar Caddesi 29, Eminönü; h 9am-5pm Mon-Sat during exhibi tions; j Eminönü) F Built over a grand archway attached to the New Mosque, this small kasr ı (pavilion) or mahfili (loge),

BAZAAR DISTRICT SIGHTS