Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE MOSQUE
The interior need not detain us long. It is a copy of the type in
which the central dome is flanked by four semidomes on the axes,
invented by Sinan for the Şehzade and used again for Sultan Ahmet
and Yeni Cami. Here the exterior lines are still reasonably classical
and pleasing, but the interior is at once weak and heavy. The painted
decoration is fussy in detail and dull in colour; the lower part of the
wall is sheathed in common white tiles of such inferior make that
they have become discoloured with damp! In the right-hand corner
is a curious fountain of drinking water (rare inside a mosque) with
an old-fashioned bronze pump and silver drinking mugs; the water is
cool and delicious. The mihrab, which is from the original building,
resembles in style the entrance portal, though one suspects that the
gilt-framed panels in the lower part are a baroque addition. Certainly
baroque but equally handsome is the mimber, an elaborate structure
of polychrome marble. Tea is sometimes served to the happy few who
venture into the imperial loge, the antechambers of which are being
used as a school for imams. The window shutters in these rooms are
fine examples of baroque intarsia work, while the small dome over
the loge itself is gaily painted with trompe l'oeuil windows.
THE TÜRBES
More interesting than the mosque itself are the magnificent
dependencies. In the graveyard behind the mosque are the türbes of
Sultan Mehmet and his wife Gülbahar, the mother of Beyazit II. Both
of these türbes were completely reconstructed after the earthquake,
though on the old foundations. That of Fatih is very baroque and its
interior extremely sumptuous in the Empire style. During the days of
the Ottoman Empire it was the custom for new sultans to visit this
türbe immediately after they were girded with the sword of Osman
at Eyüp. It was thought that this pilgrimage would endow them with
some of the Conqueror's courage and vigour, but it is surely not Fatih's
fault that this visit seldom made lions of the new sultans. During
the years when the Ottoman armies were victorious in battle, it was
customary to deck the walls of Fatih's türbe with captured weapons
after a successful campaign. Across the centuries the türbe has been a
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