Along the Golden Horn - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 318

the history of Byzantium. The ancient church of the Blachernae was
destroyed by fire in 1434, but its site is still occupied by a modern
Greek chapel above the sacred spring.
IVAZ EFENDİ CAMİİ
After leaving the ayazma we turn left and then right at the next
corner onto Dervişzade Sokağı, the Street of the Dervish's Son. At the
northern end of the terrace, built almost up against the towers of the
Byzantine city-walls, we see Ivaz Efendi Camii. This is a very attractive
mosque and while of no great size it is the only monumental building
in the whole district. Some scholars have attributed it to Sinan, but
it does not appear in his Tezkere and there seems to be no definite
evidence to identify the architect. There is no historical inscription
and the date of construction is given variously as 1581 or 1585, the
latter being the year when Ivaz Efendi died. The mosque is almost
square, its dome resting on four semidomes with stalactite cornices;
the mihrab is in a projecting apse and is decorated with Iznik tiles of
the best period. The centre of the west wall is occupied by a gallery
in two stories supported on slender marble columns. There are also
wooden galleries to north and south, but these are probably not
original - certainly not in their present form. The interior is very
elegant and gives a great sense of light, illuminated as it is by many
windows in all its walls. The west façade is most unusual: instead
of a central entrance-portal there are double doors at each end of
the façade, the rest of it being filled with windows; the efect is very
pretty. Another odd, indeed unique, feature is that the minaret is at
the south-east corner. Originally there was a porch, evidently with a
sloping roof supported by columns, which ran round three sides of
the building.
THE PALACE OF BLACHERNAE
The terrace on which Ivaz Efendi Camii stands is the site of the
famous Palace of Blachernae, of which now only a few ruined towers
and some substructures remain. The first palace on this site was
built by the Emperor Anastasius in about the year 500. The palace
was thenceforth used by the imperial family whenever they came to