The Seventh Hill - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 335

down to the Marmara, of which one has an extensive view. Below
on the left the great new building of the Istanbul Hospital - the
usual block of concrete and glass - makes a curious contrast with
the ancient cobbled streets and the decrepit but picturesque wooden
houses among which we have been wandering.
SANCAKTAR MESCİDİ
At the top of the hill we turn right into Sancaktar Tekke Sokağı,
which leads after several zigzags to an octagonal Byzantine building
called Sancaktar Mescidi. This has been identified, on very slender
evidence, as one of the buildings of the Monastery of Gastria. The
legend is that this monastery was founded in the fourth century by
St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, and that it derives its
name of Gastria, which means vases, from the vases of flowers she
brought back from Calvary where she had luckily discovered the
True Cross! This story has been refuted by the French scholar Janin,
who shows that there is no trace of the existence of the monastery
before the ninth century. The present little building has the form
of an octagon on the exterior with a projecting apse at the east end;
within, it has the form of a domed cross. It is thought that it was once
a funerary chapel; it has been dated variously from the eleventh to the
fourteenth century. The building was for long an abandoned ruin,
but it has now been restored and is once again serving as a mosque.
Leaving Sancaktar Mescidi, we walk straight ahead for a few paces
to the next intersection and then turn right on Marmara Caddesi.
This brings us back to Koca Mustafa Paşa Caddesi, where we turn left
and stroll through the pleasant district of Samatya.
RAMAZAN EFENDİ CAMİİ
Continuing along the avenue, we take the second right onto Ramazan
Efendi Caddesi, where a short way along on the right we come to a
small but charming mosque with a pretty garden courtyard in front.
The official name of the mosque is Hoca Hüsrev Camii, for the
court official who originally founded it, but it is more usually called
Ramazan Efendi Camii, after the first şeyh of the dervish tekke which
was part of the original foundation. The building is by Sinan, and a