Through the Markets and Bazaars - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 173

columns. This arrangement, although unusual, is very pleasant and
has a definite architectural unity.
The plan of the mosque consists of an octagon inscribed in a
rectangle: the dome rests on four semidomes, not in the axes but in
the diagonals of the buildings; the arches of the dome spring from
four octagonal pillars, two on the north, two on the south, and from
piers projecting from the east and west walls. To north and south
are galleries supported by the pillars and by small marble columns
between them.
Rüstem Paşa Camii is especially famous for its very fine tiles
which almost cover the walls, not only on the interior but also on the
façade of the porch. One should also climb to the galleries where the
tiles are of a diferent pattern. Like all the great Turkish tiles, those
of Rüstem Paşa came from the kilns of Iznik in its greatest period
(c. 1555-1620) and they show the tomato-red or “Armenian bole”
which is characteristic of that period. These exquisite tiles, in every
conceivable floral and geometric design, cover not only the walls, but
also the columns, mihrab and mimber. Altogether they make one of
the most beautiful and striking mosque interiors in the city.
Just to the east of Rüstem Paşa Camii, a few steps down Hasırcılar
Caddesi, we find a han whose origins may go back to early Byzantine
times. This is the Hurmalı Han, the Han for Dates; it has a long,
narrow courtyard which one authority ascribes to the sixth or seventh
century. There are a great many ancient hans in this neighbourhood,
but they are for the most part decayed and cluttered, and almost
nothing is known about them but their names.
BALKAPAN HAN
Continuing east along Hasırcılar Caddesi for a few more steps we
take the next right and then in the middle of the block turn left
into a large courtyard. We are now in the Balkapan Han, the Honey-
Store Han. Evliya Çelebi tells us that in his time this was the han of
the Egyptian honey-merchants. The han is chiefly interesting for the
extensive Byzantine vaults beneath it: these are reached by a staircase
leading down from a shed in the middle of the courtyard. Great
rectangular pillars of brick support massive brick vaulting in the usual