Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
long inscription over the inner door by his friend the poet Mustafa
Sa'i, gives the date as A.H. 994 (A.D. 1586); thus, this is undoubtedly
the last mosque built by the great architect, completed in his 97th year.
It is a building of the simplest type: a small rectangular room with a
wooden roof and porch. It is thought that it was originally covered
with a wooden dome and that it had a porch with three domed bays
supported by four marble columns; the present wooden porch and
flat wooden ceiling are botched restorations after an earthquake.
The minaret is an elegant structure both in proportion and in detail,
while the small şadırvan in the courtyard is exquisitely carved. But
the great fame of the mosque comes from the magnificent panels of
faience with which it is adorned. These are from the Iznik kilns at
the height of their artistic production and are thus some of the finest
tiles in existence: the borders of “tomato-red” or Armenian bole are
especially celebrated.
After leaving the mosque we return to Koca Mustafa Paşa Caddesi
and continue on in the same direction as before. A short distance
along, the avenue forks to the right, and we soon come to a picturesque
square shaded with trees and lined with teahouses and cafés. On
the left side of the square is the entrance to the mosque complex
of Koca Mustafa Paşa, after whom the avenue and the surrounding
neighbourhood are named.
CHURCH OF ST. ANDREW IN KRİSEİ (KOCA MUSTAFA
PAŞA CAMİİ)
The central building of this picturesque complex is Koca Mustafa
Paşa Camii, anciently a church known as St. Andrew in Krisei. The
identification and history of the church are very obscure and much
disputed. One may summarize the discussions of the learned in a series
of subjunctive statements: that Koca Mustafa Paşa Camii may have been
one of the churches in the region dedicated to a St. Andrew; that if
it is, it is probably that dedicated by the Princess Theodora Raoulina
about 1264 to St. Andrew of Crete; that the present building was fairly
certainly of the ambulatory type; that it may have been built on the
foundations of an earlier church dedicated to St. Andrew the Apostle;
and that it certainly re-used sixth-century materials, especially capitals.
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