Through the Markets and Bazaars - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 158

place in what looks like a little odeum in the centre of the Bedesten,
where rug merchants and spectators, many of them canny Anatolians,
sit and bid upon the rugs, carpets and kilims which the sellers exhibit
on the floor. At those times one can recapture something of the old
Oriental atmosphere of the Covered Bazaar.
We leave the Kapalı Çarşı by the door at the far end of the
Bedesten. Turning right on the street outside, we see on our left an
arcade of finely built shops which forms the outer courtyard wall
of Nuruosmaniye Camii. These shops were originally part of the
Nuruosmaniye külliyesi and their revenues were used to help pay for
the upkeep of the mosque and its dependencies. These shops have
recently been restored in an attractive manner and are now once
again performing their original function.
NURUOSMANİYE CAMİİ
At the end of the arcade of shops we come on our left to the gate of
the courtyard of Nuruosmaniye Camii, just opposite Çarşı Kapı, one
of the main entryways to the Kapalı Çarşı. This is one of the most
attractive mosque courtyards in the city, shaded by plane-trees and
horse-chestnuts, with the mosque on the left and the various buildings
of the külliye - the medrese, library, türbe and sebil - scattered here
and there irregularly. The courtyard is a busy one, situated as it is
beside one of the main gates of the Bazaar, and is much frequented by
beggars and peddlers. Now and then one sees here one of the itinerant
folk-musicians called aşıklar , who recite and sing their own poetry
and songs while playing upon the saz . he aşıklar follow a tradition
which is many centuries old, and are among the last survivors of the
wandering bards and minstrels of the medieval world. Their songs
and poems are concerned with all aspects of Turkish life, including
politics, which is why they are so often in trouble with the police. But
in the end the aşıklar (their name literally means 'Lover') always sing
to their peasant audiences ballads of life and love in Anatolia, and so
their songs are generally sad.
Nuruosmaniye Camii was begun by Sultan Mahmut I in 1748
and finished in 1755 by his brother and successor, Osman III, from
whom it takes its name, the mosque of the Sacred Light (Nur) of