The Empress Nurbanu and Ottoman Politics in the Sixteenth Century by Pinar Kayaalp

Author:Pinar Kayaalp [Kayaalp, Pinar]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The dependencies of the Atik Valide

The positioning of the külliye’s dependencies with respect to the mosque is as follows: the madrasa is located to the north of the mosque’s courtyard and is accessible through a gate with a few descending steps. The imaret, hospital, and darülhadis are collected together in one vast structure to the west of the mosque. The caravansary was to the west of this huge structure. The primary school is directly behind the mosque to the south. The dervish convent constituting an independent, cloistered structure, is to the east of the mosque and the madrasa.

Its gate, placed on its southwestern corner, is nearly aligned across the street with the eastern gate of the mosque and diagonally to the east gate of the madrasa.

Placed on the highest terrace of the sloping hill site, the mosque is built on the hexagonal scheme, with a dome measuring 12.70m in diameter and is situated in a courtyard that covers an area of 56.20 by 43.70m, later flanked by two domes on each side.119 The courtyard was initially enclosed by a continuous portico of 43 domed arcades, four gates and contains a later-dated fountain (Figure 8). Two of the gates, the one on the western and the other on the eastern flank, open to the street. The third, facing north, connects to the lower-lying courtyard of the madrasa. The fourth gate is a later addition, running parallel to the enclosed graveyard (hazîre) behind the mosque, and opens to the southwestern corner. The mosque is flanked by two slender minarets, the upper sections of which were reconstructed in the aftermath of an earthquake that occurred in the eighteenth century. The double porticoed son cemaat yeri is covered by four domes resting on pendentives, two on each side of a flat-topped cross vault in the middle, which gives access to the interior through an imposing white marble portal with the chronograph affixed above. Ten exquisite tile panels adorn the qibla wall of the portico.

Once inside, the visitor is struck by the profusion of light coming from a multitude of windows.120 During the nineteenth-century renovation some of these windows were closed or turned into doors; but at the time of its inauguration, the mosque had 114 windows, 23 of which were around its central dome.121 The central space of the mosque is surrounded by galleries on three sides, which were added later along with the lateral domes. The marble mihrab and latticed minbar are worthy of notice, as well as the ivory inlaid window shutters and exquisite tiles on the two sides of the mihrab. The tile inscriptions covering the qibla wall and the three sides of the mihrab are among the finest examples of Ottoman artisanship.122

The hilltop mosque is the central component of the külliye, aptly exalting the image of its endower. According to the Waqfiyya, a total of 178 people served the needs of this building, drawing daily salaries amounting to 492 dirhems.123 Considering that 384 people were employed in the various dependencies

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