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medrese, a sebil and the türbe of Koca Sinan Paşa, who died in 1595.
Koca Sinan Paşa was Grand Vezir under Murat III and Mehmet III
and was the conqueror of the Yemen. Perhaps the most outstanding
element in this very attractive complex of buildings is the türbe, a fine
structure with 16 sides, built of polychrome stonework, white and
rose-coloured, and with a rich cornice of stalactites and handsome
window mouldings. The medrese, which we enter by a gate in the
alley alongside, has a charming courtyard with a portico in ogive
arches. The sebil, too, is an elegant structure with bronze grilles
separated by little columns and surmounted by an overhanging roof.
The whole complex was built in 1593 by Davut Ağa, the successor to
Sinan as Chief Architect.
THE COMPLEX OF ALİ PAŞA OF ÇORLU
On the other side of the alley across from the sebil, a marble wall with
grilles encloses another complex of buildings, the külliye of Ali Paşa
of Çorlu. This Ali Paşa was a son-in-law of Mustafa II and was Grand
Vezir under Ahmet III, on whose orders he was beheaded in 1711
on the island of Mytilene. Ali Paşa's head was afterwards brought
back to Istanbul and buried in the cemetery of his külliye, which had
been completed three years earlier. This külliye, consisting of a small
mosque and a medrese, belongs to the transition period between the
classical and the baroque styles. Though attractive, there is nothing
especially outstanding about these buildings, although one might
notice how essentially classical they still are. The only very obvious
baroque features are the capitals of the columns of the porch.
THE COMPLEX OF KARA MUSTAFA PAŞA
Directly across the avenue we see the octagonal mosque of Kara
Mustafa Paşa of Merzifon, together with a medrese and a sebil. This
unfortunate Grand Vezir also lost his head, which, according to an
Ottoman historian, “rolled at the feet of the Sultan (Mehmet IV) at
Belgrade” after the unsuccessful second siege of Vienna in 1683, of
which Kara Mustafa had been in charge. The buildings were begun
in 1669 and finished by the Paşa's son in 1690. This mosque is of
the transitional type between classic and baroque and is of interest
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