From Haghia Sophia to Beyazit Square - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 140

During the second half of the seventeenth century and the early
years of the eighteenth, no fewer than five members of this family
served as Grand Vezir, some of them among the most able who ever
held that post. The library of the Köprülü külliyesi is a handsome
little building with a columned porch and a domed reading-room,
constructed in a mixture of brick and stone. The library contains
an important collection of books and manuscripts many of which
were the property of its founders, who were known in their time as
Mehmet the Cruel and Ahmet the Statist.
One block beyond the library and on the same side of the street,
we come to two other institutions of the Köprülü külliyesi, the
mosque and the türbe of Mehmet the Cruel. The türbe is of a rather
unusual type, in the sense that it is roofed only by a metal grille. This
gave rise to the legend that the grave was deliberately left open to the
elements, so that the falling rain could cool the shade of the Grand
Vezir, who was burning in hell-fire because of the thousands of rebels
he had executed while in office. In the graveyard just beside the türbe
we see the tombstone of a modern member of this famous family,
Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, the distinguished historian and sometimes
Minister for Foreign Afairs, who died in 1966. The mosque is a few
steps beyond the türbe, projecting out into the sidewalk of Divan
Yolu. The mosque, which is octagonal in shape, was once the
dershane, or lecture-room, of the Köprülü medresesi, most of which
has now disappeared.
THE ÇEMBERLİTAŞ HAMAMI
Directly across the avenue from the Köprülü mosque is the
Çemberlitaş Hamamı, one of the finest extant examples of a classical
hamam. This hamam was founded by Nurbanu Valide Sultan some
time before her death in 1583; she was the wife of Selim II and the
mother of Murat III. She was a great builder: her magnificent mosque
complex in Üsküdar is described in Chapter 19. Her architect there
was Sinan, but he does not appear to have been responsible for the
present beautiful structure, for it is not mentioned in the Tezkere ,
the official list of his works. his bath is still fortunately in use, at
least the men's section. It was originally double but part of the men's