Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
popular shrine among the common people of the city, and something
like a cult of emperor-worship grew up around the memory of the
Conqueror and several other great sultans. But then in 1924, after
the abolition of the Sultanate, all of the imperial türbes were ordered
closed; only in recent years have a very few of them been reopened to
the public because of their historical or artistic importance.
The türbe of Gülbahar is simple and classical and must resemble
the original quite closely. An old and persistent legend, quite definitely
apocryphal, has it that Gülbahar was a daughter of the King of France,
sent by him as a bride for the Emperor Constantine Dragases and
captured by the Turks when they were besieging the city. The legend
goes on to say that Gülbahar, although she was the wife of Fatih and
the mother of Beyazit, never embraced Islam and died a Christian.
Evliya Çelebi recounts a version of this legend and has this to say of
Gülbahar's türbe: “I myself have often observed, at morning prayer,
that the readers appointed to chant lessons from the Kuran all turned
their backs upon the coffin of this lady, of whom it was so doubtful
whether she departed in the faith of Islam. I have often seen Franks
come by stealth and give a few aspers to the tomb-keeper to open her
türbe for them, as its gate is always kept locked.” This story is also
repeated by the Italian traveller Cornelio Magni, writing at about the
same time as Evliya, who was led by the tomb-keeper to believe that
Gülbahar was a Christian princess who lived and died in her faith.
“he türbe,” he says, “remains always shut, even the windows. I asked
the reason for this and was told: 'The sepulcher of her whose soul lives
among the shades deserves not a ray of light!'” After much entreaty
and the intervention of an Emir who passed by, the tomb-keeper let
him in: “I entered with veneration and awe... and silently recited a
De
profundis
for the soul of this unfortunate Princess.”
The little library in the south corner of the graveyard beside the
mosque was built by Mahmut I and dates from 1742.
THE MEDRESES
To north and south of the precinct are the eight great medreses; they
are severely symmetrical and almost identical in plan. Each contains
19 cells for students and a dershane. The entrance to the dershane
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