The Seventh Hill - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 334

or just under 25,000 square metres in area. Constructed under the
Emperor Anastasius (r. 491-518), it fell into disuse in Byzantine
times; like the other two Roman reservoirs it served as a vegetable
garden and orchard, with a few wooden houses at the eastern end. In
1993 it was converted into the Fatih Educational Park.
Returning to Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Camii, we take the street that
runs past the northern side of the mosque precinct. We follow this
to its intersection with Koca Mustafa Paşa Caddesi; then we take the
street opposite and slightly to our left; this immediately brings us to a
pathetic ruin which is of interest only because of its association with
the great Sinan.
ISA KAPI MESCİDİ
This complex consists of two walls of a Byzantine church and the
wreck of a medrese by Sinan. Of the church only the south and east
walls remain. It was of the simplest kind; an oblong room without
aisles ending at the east in a large projecting apse and two tiny side
apses. In the southern side apse there could be seen till recently the
traces of frescoes; these have now almost entirely disappeared. The
building is probably to be dated to the beginning of the fourteenth
century, but nothing is known of its history nor even the name of the
saint to whom it is dedicated. About 1560 the church was turned into
a mosque by the eunuch Ibrahim Paşa, who added to it a handsome
medrese designed by Sinan. Both church and medrese were destroyed
by the great earthquake of 1894 and have remained abandoned ever
since. The ruins of the medrese, which is unusual in plan, are rather
fine; its large dershane still bears traces of plaster decoration around
the dome, and the narrow courtyard beyond must have been very
attractive. The medrese, known as Isa Kapı Mescidi, is now under
restoration. The name Isa Kapısı means the Gate of Christ and the
theory is that it preserves the memory of one of the gates in the city
walls of Constantine the Great which are thought to have passed
close by. This is possible, but the arguments of the authorities are
contradictory and inconclusive.
Following the alley that leads round behind the medrese, we pass
a little square and find ourselves at the top of a steep hill leading