Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

MUSEUM accounts he was a loathsome character. His contemporaries dubbed him Kehle i-Ikbal (the Louse of Fortune) because he was found to be infected 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 favourite son, Mustafa. They were successful and Mustafa was strangled in 1553 on his father’s orders. HÜNKÂR KASRI ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Hünkâr Mahfili; Arpacılar Caddesi 29, Eminönü; h 9am-5pm Mon-Sat during exhibitions; j Eminönü) F Built over a grand archway attached to the New Mosque, this small kasrı (pavilion) or mahfili (loge), dates from the same period and functioned as a waiting area and retreat for the sultans. It comprises a salon, bedchamber and toilet and is decorated with exquisite İznik tiles throughout. Entry is via an extremely long and wide staircase that is now ulitised by the İstanbul Ticaret Odası (Chamber of Commerce) as a temporary exhibition space. The kasrı 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 Kasrı Sergi Salonu Facebook page for details. Only in İstanbul 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, İznik tiles and carved marble. Originally commissioned by Valide Sultan 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 dissenters from Orthodox Judaism. When the valide sultan decided to build her NEW MOSQUE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Yeni Camii; Yenicamii Meydanı Sokak, Eminönü; j Eminönü) MOSQUE