Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

MOSQUE GÜL MOSQUE ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Gül Camii; cnr Gül Camii & Şerefiye Sokaks, Fener; g 99, 99A, 99Y from Eminönü, 55T from Taksim) This mosque started life as the 11th-century Church of St Theodosia. Legend has it that one day before the Conquest, worshippers filled the church with rose petals in St Theodosia’s honour and prayed for her intervention against the Ottomans. Their prayers went unanswered, but the invaders renamed the building Gül (Rose) Mosque after the petals they found on entering. But legends, however appealing, are rarely true. In reality, the building was used as a shipyard warehouse after the Conquest and wasn’t converted into a mosque until the reign of Beyazıt II (r 1481–1512). The extremely high central dome is an Ottoman addition and the pretty minaret dates from the rule of Selim I (r 1512–20). PALACE OF CONSTANTINE PORPHYROGENITUS ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Palace of the Sovereign, Tekfur Sarayı; Hoca Çakır Caddesi, Edirnekapı; g 99, 99A, 99Y, 28 from Eminönü, 55T, 87 from Taksim, f Ayvansaray) Though only a shell these days, the remnants of this Byzantine palace give a good idea of how it would have looked in its heyday. Built in the late 13th or early 14th century, the large three-storied structure may have been an annexe of the nearby imperial Palace of Blachernae, of which few traces exist today. The building’s later uses were not so regal: after the Conquest it functioned in turn as a menagerie for exotic wild animals, a brothel, a poorhouse for HISTORIC BUILDING Sokullu Mehmet Paşa’s life story is fascinating. Born in Bosnia, he was captured by Ottoman troops and recruited into the devşirme, the annual intake of Christian youths into the janisseries (this also happened to Sinan). After converting to Islam, he rose through the ranks, holding important positions such as high admiral of the fleet, before becoming a vizier and then grand vizier for a total of 24 years under three sultans: Süleyman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murat III. During his time in office, he amassed a great fortune and commissioned religious buildings including the Sokullu Şehit Mehmet Paşa Mosque in Sultanahmet.