The Fifth and Sixth Hills - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 263

DRAĞMAN CAMİİ
We now return to Draman Caddesi and turn left. We will stroll along
this avenue, which changes its name several times, for most of the
remainder of our tour. The neighbourhood through which we are
walking is one of the more picturesque in Istanbul, albeit somewhat
broken-down.
About 200 metres beyond Kefeli Camii we see on our right a
small mosque on a high terrace reached by a double staircase. This
is Drağman Camii, which is a minor work of Sinan. Unfortunately
it was very badly restored some years ago and has lost any interest it
may have had. It was of the rectangular type covered by a wooden
roof and preceded by a wooden porch, now (hideously) rebuilt in
concrete. Originally it was the centre of a small complex consisting
of a medrese and a mektep, both presumably by Sinan. The medrese
has perished but the mektep remains, though in ruins: a fine domed
building to the north-east of the mosque. Although the mosque itself
is disappointing, the high terrace, the mektep and the wild garden
and graveyard are attractive.
Inscriptions show the complex was founded in 1541 by Yunus
Bey, the famous interpreter ( drağman , or dragoman ) of Süleyman
the Magnificent, of whom Bassano da Zara tells us that he was a
Greek from Modon and that he “possessed the Turkish, Greek and
Italian languages to perfection.” In collaboration with Alviso Gritti,
bastard son of the Doge of Venice, he wrote in the Venetian dialect a
brief but very important account of the organization of the Ottoman
government. He also seems to have served on at least two occasions
as the representative of the Grand Vezir Ibrahim Paşa to the Venetian
Republic.
CHURCH OF THE THEOTOKOS PAMMAKARİSTOS
We now return to the main avenue, which here changes its name to
Fethiye Caddesi, and continue on in the same direction for about 200
metres. Then, just before the road bends sharply right, we turn left and
almost immediately come to a Byzantine church standing on a terrace
overlooking the Golden Horn. This is the church of the Theotokos
Pammakaristos, the Joyous Mother of God. Since the church sits in