Around the Blue Mosque - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 110

name of the Blue Mosque. What is original and very beautiful in the
decoration of the interior is the revetment of tiles on the lower part
of the walls, especially in the galleries. They are Iznik tiles of the best
period and they deserve study. The magnificent floral designs display
the traditional lily, carnation, tulip and rose motifs, also cypresses and
other trees, all in exquisite colours; subtle blues and greens predominat-
ing. The mihrab and mimber, of white Proconnesian marble, are
also original; they are fine examples of the carved stonework of that
period. Of equal excellence is the bronzework of the great courtyard
doors and the woodwork, encrusted with ivory and mother-of-pearl,
of the doors and window-shutters of the mosque itself. Under the
sultan's loge, which is in the upper gallery to the left of the mihrab,
the wooden ceiling is painted with floral and geometrical arabesques
in that exquisite early style in rich and gorgeous colours, of which so
few examples remain.
A ramp at the north-east corner of the mosque leads up to the
hünkâr kasrı, a suite of rooms used by the Sultan whenever he came
here for services, with an internal passageway leading to the hünkar
mahfili, or imperial loge, within the mosque. The hünkâr kasrı is now
used to house the Vakıflar Carpet Museum, a remarkable collection
of Turkish carpets from all over Turkey and covering all periods of
Ottoman history, including a number that were made for use in the
Sultan's tent when he was on campaign.
Beneath the kıble end of the prayer room of the mosque there
were storerooms and stables, and these have been restored to house
the Vakiflar Kilim Museum, whose collection includes works ranging
in date from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, including rare
and beautiful examples. This museum has a separate entryway from
the courtyard below the mosque on that side, just above the restored
Ottoman market-street (see p. 129) on Kaba Sakal Sokağı, the Street
of the Bushy Beard.
The külliye of Sultan Ahmet was appropriately extensive, including
a medrese, türbe, hospital, kervansaray, primary school, public kitchen
and market. The hospital and the kervansaray were destroyed in the
nineteenth century, and the public kitchen was incorporated into one
of the buildings of the School of Industrial Arts, which stood at the