Istanbul Guide

97

SURROUNDING STREETS

The mihrab (niche in a minaret indicating the direction of Mecca) is covered in fine İ znik tiles. Other interior decoration includes window shut ters inlaid with mother-of-pearl, gorgeous stained glass windows, painted muqarnas (corbels with honeycomb detail), a spectacular persimmon coloured floor carpet, painted pendentives and me dallions featuring fine calligraphy. The Külliye Süleyman specified that his mosque should have the full complement of public service, including: imaret (soup kitchen), medrese (Islamic school of higher studies), hamam, caravanserai and darü şş ifa (hospital). Today the imaret, with its charming garden courtyard, houses the Darüzzi yafe (p108) cafe and is a lovely place to enjoy a çay. On its right-hand side (north) is a tabhane (inn for travelling dervishes) that was being restored at the time of research, and on its left-hand side (south) is Lale Bahçesi (p108), a popular tea garden set in a sunken courtyard. The main entrance to the mosque is accessed from Professor S ı dd ı k Sami Onar Caddesi, formerly known as Tiryaki Çar ş ı ş ı (Market of the Addicts). The buildings here once housed three medreses and a primary school; they’re now home to the Süleymaniye Library and a raft of popular street side fasülye (bean) restaurants that were formerly teahouses selling opium (hence the street’s former name). On the corner of Professor S ı dd ı k Sami Onar Caddesi and Ş ifahane Sokak is the darü şş ifa, also under restoration. The still-functioning Süleymaniye Hamam ı is on the eastern side of the mosque. Türbes To the right (southeast) of the main entrance is the cemetery, home to the tombs of Süleyman and his wife Haseki Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana). The tile work surrounding the entrances to both is superb and the ivory-inlaid panels in Süleyman’s tomb are lovely.

The streets surround ing the mosque are home to what may well be the most extensive concentration of Otto man timber houses on the Historic Peninsula, many of which are cur rently being restored as part of an urban regen eration project. To see some, head down Fetva Yoku ş u (between the tabhane and Sinan’s tomb) and veer right into Namahrem Sokak and Ayranc ı Sokak. One of the many Ottoman era houses here was once occupied by Mimar Sinan; it now houses a cafe. To see other timber houses, take a walk down Kayserili Ahmetpa ş a Sokak, behind the bean restaurants and souve nir shops on Professor S ı dd ı k Sami Onar Caddesi. Although Sinan described the smaller Selimiye Mosque in Edirne as his best work, he chose to be complex, probably knowing that this would be the achieve ment for which he would be best remembered. His türbe (tomb) is just outside the mosque’s walled garden, next to a disused medrese (seminary) building. buried in the Süleymaniye

BAZAAR DISTRICT SÜLEYMANIYE MOSQUE