Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Amasya and elsewhere. Then the porch is also unique: its roof, which
is pitched, not domed, is supported by four columns with Byzantine
Corinthian capitals. The reuse of ancient capitals also occurred in the
earlier architecture of Bursa and among the Selçuks, but it is very
rare indeed in Istanbul. (Bayan Cahide Tamer, the architect who so
ably restored the mosque, found the original Corinthian capitals so
decayed and broken as to be unusable in the restoration, but she was
able to find in the Archaeological Museum four others of the same
type with which she replaced the originals.) Finally, the entrance
portal is not in the middle but on the right-hand side. This is usual
in mosques whose porches are supported by three columns only - so
as to prevent the door being blocked by the central column - but
here there seems no reason for it. The interior of the mosque has no
special features.
THE ŞEHZADE COMPLEX
The great mosque of the Şehzade has been looming up before us
for some time and we must now visit this magnificent complex
systematically. The main entrances are on Şehzadebaşı Caddesi. The
complex consists of the mosque, several türbes, a medrese, a tabhane
or hospice, a public kitchen and a primary school.
Şehzade Camii, the Mosque of the Prince, was built by Süleyman
the Magnificent in memory of his eldest son, Prince Mehmet, who
died of smallpox in the 22nd year of his age in 1543. As Evliya Çelebi
wrote of Prince Mehmet: “He was a prince of exquisite qualities and
possessed of a piercing intellect and a subtle judgement. Süleyman,
when laid up with the gout, had fixed on him in his mind to be a
successor to his crown; but man proposes and God disposes; death
stopped the way of that hopeful youth at Magnesia, from whence his
body was brought to Constantinople.”
Süleyman was heartbroken at the death of his beloved son and
sat beside Mehmet's body for three days before he would permit
burial to take place. When Süleyman recovered from his grief he
determined to commemorate Prince Mehmet by the erection of a
great mosque and pious foundations dedicated to his memory. Sinan
was commissioned to design and build it and began work almost
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