Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE DAR-ÜL KURA
The far eastern end of the terrace, the area behind the türbe garden, is
a large open area which is triangular in shape because of the direction
of the streets below. This was known anciently as the Iron Wrestling
Ground, because of the weekly wrestling matches which were once
held there. (This has always been an honoured sport in Islam, and
the Prophet himself enjoyed wrestling with his companions.) At the
western end of this area, set into the middle of the türbe garden wall,
we see a handsome building which once served as the dar-ül kura,
or school for the various methods of reading and reciting the Kuran.
Such schools appear always to have been small buildings, rather like
mekteps or the dershanes of medreses. They were sometimes directly
attached to a mosque and without accompanying living-quarters for
students, for the course in Kuran reading was naturally ancillary to
more general studies. This school consists of a large domed chamber
of very lovely proportions built over a small Byzantine cistern with
four columns.
On the south side of the mosque, outside the precinct walls,
stretches a long and broad esplanade lined with institutions belonging
to the Süleymaniye külliyesi. This attractive avenue is called Tiryaki
Çarşısı, or the Market of the Addicts, because till not very long ago
the cafés which line the outer walls of the medreses used to serve
opium to their customers in addition to tea, cofee and tobacco. We
will start our tour of the outer precincts of the Süleymaniye at the
eastern end of the Tiryaki Çarşısı, that is, by turning left after leaving
the outer courtyard of the mosque.
THE EVVEL AND SANİ MEDRESES
The first institution which we come to at the eastern end of the
esplanade is the former primary school. This little building, whose
entrance is around the corner, has been restored and is now in use
as a children's library. The next two institutions are the Evvel and
Sani medreses, forming a group with the other two schools of Islamic
law on the northern side of the mosque. The entrance to these twin
medreses is at the far end of the narrow alley which separates them.
They now house the celebrated Süleymaniye library, one of the most
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