Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
infidels, where to this day his name is insulted by all the unbelieving
malefactors, debtors, murderers, etc. imprisoned there. But when
(God be praised!) Istanbul was taken, the grave of Cafer Baba in the
tower of the Bagno became a place of pilgrimage which is visited by
those who have been released from prison and who call down bless-
ings in opposition to the curses of the unbelievers.” The tower was
restored in 1990 and the supposed grave of Cafer Baba on the ground
floor of the tower was opened to the public as a Muslim shrine.
Just beyond the Zindan Han are the shattered remnants of an
arched gateway from the medieval Byzantine period. The identity of
this gate is uncertain, but in early Ottoman times local Greeks referred
to it as the Porta Caravion (the Gate of the Caravels), because of the
large number of ships which were moored at the pier nearby, the
ancient Scala de Drongario. This pier, known as the Yemiş Iskelesi, or
Dried Fruit Pier, was still in use up until the mid-1980s, but then it
was demolished along with the rest of the Zindan Kapı quarter, which
was for many centuries the principal fruit and vegetable market of the
old city but is now only a fading memory.
THE MOSQUE OF AHİ ÇELEBİ
Passing the gateway, we soon find ourselves in front of an ancient
mosque, Ahi Çelebi Camii. This mosque was founded at an uncertain
date by Ahi Çelebi ibni Kemal, who was Chief Physician of the
hospital of Fatih Mehmet and who died in 1523 while returning from
a pilgrimage to Mecca. The building is of little architectural interest,
aside from the fact that it was apparently restored at one point by
Sinan. Its principal interest to us is its association with Evliya Çelebi,
whose
Seyahatname
,
or
Book of Travels
,
we have so often quoted in
our guide. One night in Ramazan in the year 1631, when Evliya was
20 years old, he fell asleep and dreamt that he was in the mosque of
Ahi Çelebi. While praying there, in his dream, he was astonished to
find the mosque fill up with what he described as “a refulgent crowd
of saints and martyrs,” followed by the Prophet, who gave him his
blessings and intimated that Evliya would spend his life as a traveller.
“When I awoke,” writes Evliya, “I was in great doubt whether what
I had seen was a dream or reality, and I enjoyed for some time the
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