Through the Markets and Bazaars - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 161

a very curious arrangement of juxtaposed triangles so that the dome
rests on a regular 16-sided polygon. Other examples of this odd and
not unattractive expedient are found in the west dome of Murat Paşa
Camii (see Chapter 16) and in one or two other mosques which
belong to the same early period.
The two large domes of the great hall of the mosque have smooth
pendentives, rather than the stalactited ones usually found in these
early mosques. The mihrab and mimber and in general all the
decoration and furniture of the mosque are eighteenth century or
later and rather mean in appearance. This is a pity since it gives the
mosque a rather unattractive aspect, so that one finds it difficult to
recapture its original charm. In the small side-chambers some of
the domes have smooth pendentives while others are stalactited.
The function of these side-rooms, almost universal in mosques of
this type, was for long a puzzle. The solution has been provided by
Semavi Eyice, who shows that they were used, here and elsewhere, as
a tabhane, or hospice, for travelling dervishes.
Leaving the mosque, we retrace our steps to the intersection
outside the courtyard. There, down a short alley on the left, we see
a little graveyard in which stands Mahmut Paşa's magnificent and
unique türbe. The türbe is dated by an inscription to A.H. 878 (A.D.
1474), the year in which the unfortunate man was executed. It is a tall
octagonal building with a blind dome and two tiers of windows. The
upper part of the fabric on the outside is entirely encased in a kind
of mosaic of tile-work, with blue and turquoise the predominating
colours. The tiles make a series of wheel-like patterns of great charm;
they are presumably of the first Iznik period (1453-1555), and there
is nothing else exactly like them in Istanbul.
Leaving the türbe, we take the narrow street directly opposite,
Kılıççılar Sokağı, the Street of the Sword-Makers. This is one of
the most fascinating byways in the city, and is one of the very few
surviving examples of an old Ottoman bazaar street. The left side of
the street is lined with an arcade of ancient shops which were once
part of the külliye of Nuruosmaniye Camii. On the right side of the
street we pass a number of shops and ateliers which are part of the
Çuhacılar Hanı, the Han of the Cloth-Dealers. The Çuhacılar Hanı