Around Beyazit and Sehzadebas - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 178

as a mint by Mehmet the Conqueror. The mint was later transferred
to Topkapı Sarayı and Şimkeşhane was used to house the spinners
of silver thread. The han was damaged by fire and then rebuilt in
1707 by Râbia Gülnüş Ümmetullah, wife of Mehmet IV and mother
of Mustafa II and Ahmet III. The han to the west was built about
1740 by the Grand Vezir Seyyit Hasan Paşa. Both were handsome
and interesting buildings, especially the latter. It is still worthwhile
walking round them to see the astonishing and picturesque irregularity
of design: great zigzags built out on corbels following the crooked
line of the streets.
LIBRARY OF RAGIP PAŞA
Some few hundred metres farther on down Ordu Caddesi, and on the
same side of the street, we come to the külliye of Ragıp Paşa. This
delightful little complex was founded in 1762 by Ragıp Paşa, Grand
Vezir in the reign of Mustafa III. The architect seems to have been
Mehmet Tahir Ağa, whose masterpiece, Laleli Camii, is a little farther
down Ordu Caddesi and on the opposite side of the avenue. We enter
through a gate on top of which is a mektep, or primary school, now used
as a children's library. Across the courtyard, surrounded by an attractive
garden, is the main library; this has been restored in recent years and is
now once again serving its original purpose. From the courtyard a flight
of steps leads to a domed lobby which opens into the reading-room.
This is square, the central space being covered by a dome supported on
four columns; between these, beautiful bronze grilles form a kind of
cage in which are kept the topics and manuscripts. Round the sides of
this vaulted and domed room are chairs and tables for reading. The walls
are revetted in blue and white tiles, either of European manufacture or
strongly under European influence, but charming nevertheless. In the
garden, which is separated from the courtyard by fine bronze grilles,
is the pretty open türbe of the founder. Ragıp Paşa, who was Grand
Vezir from 1757 until 1763, is considered to have been the last of
the great men to hold that office, comparable in stature to men like
Sokollu Mehmet Paşa and the Köprülüs. Ragıp Paşa was also the best
poet of his time and composed some of the most apt and witty of the
chronograms inscribed on the street-fountains of Istanbul. His little