Through the Markets and Bazaars - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 169

period, but the evidence for this is very uncertain. This tower appears
as a prominent feature of the city skyline in the drawing made by
Melchior Lorichs in 1559, where it is shown much taller than it is
at present. The lower room of the tower is part of the weaving mill
which occupies this part of the han, while the upper room is fitted
out as a mosque, with a pretty ribbed dome; the mosque is now
disafected and serves as a storage room.
It was in this han, or rather in the palace which preceded it on
the same site, that was established one of the first printing presses in
the city. This was set up in 1567 by one Apkar from Sivas, who went
to Venice to procure type in the Armenian script. This was not the
first printing press in the city, however, for the local Jews had a press
as early as 1494, the Greeks not till 1624, the Turks only in 1727,
although books in Turkish had been printed long before this time in
western Europe.
At a corner of the inner courtyard, an archway gives exit to an
open area outside the han. Just opposite we see the large mosque of
Ibrahim Paşa, one of the most ancient in the city. This mosque was
founded in 1478 by Çandarlı Ibrahim Paşa, Grand Vezir under Sultan
Beyazit II, who died during the siege of Lepanto in 1499. The mosque
was in ruins for many years and was restored in the early 1970s;
however, the restoration has wantonly destroyed all that was original
in the structure and it is now hardly worth even passing mention.
We now follow the path which leads of to the left between the han
and the mosque and soon find ourselves on another bustling market
street, Uzun Çarşı Caddesi, or the Avenue of the Long Market. This
follows the course of the Byzantine street called Makros Embolos
which led from the Forum of Constantine to the Golden Horn,
down the valley between the Second and Third Hills. The Greek
name means Great Colonnade and the street was indeed lined with
columned porticoes on both sides. But today the street is mean and
squalid, although always crowded and picturesque. For this is the site
of the Secondhand Clothing Bazaar, where the poor of the city sell
one another clothes. It is said that, if you are clever enough, you can
stroll through this bazaar, sell all the clothes you are wearing, and buy
them back farther down the street at a small profit.