Along the Land Walls - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 360

mosque itself was restored but the attendant buildings were for the
most part neglected; in recent years some not altogether satisfactory
reconstruction has been carried out.
We enter from the main street through a gate giving access to a
short flight of steps leading up to the terrace. On the right is the great
courtyard, around three sides of which are the porticoes and cells of
the medrese. The west side, which stands just opposite the Theodosian
walls with only a narrow road between, has only had its portico
restored, and it is difficult to be sure how many cells there were along
this side and whether the dershane stood here as one might expect.
In the centre of the courtyard is an attractive şadırvan. The mosque
is preceded by an imposing porch of seven domed bays supported by
eight marble and granite columns. This porch was originally preceded
by another, doubtless with a sloping wooden roof supported on 12
columns, traces of which may be seen on the ground. This double
porch was a favourite device of Sinan's, found again at Mihrimah's
other mosque at Üsküdar and in many others.
The central area of the interior is square, covered by a great dome
20 metres in diameter and 37 metres high under the crown, resting on
smooth pendentives. The tympana of all four dome arches are filled
with three rows of windows. To north and south high triple arcades,
each supported on two great granite columns, open into side aisles
with galleries above, each of three domed bays; but these galleries
reach only to the springing of the dome arches. The plan thus gives
a sense of enormous space and light. Altogether Mihrimah Camii is
one of the very finest mosques in the city and must be counted as
one of Sinan's masterpieces. It is curious that this mosque, although
imperial, has but one minaret, while Mihrimah's other mosque in
Üsküdar has two.
The interior stencil decoration is modern, insipid in colour and
characterless in design. The mimber, however, is a fine original work
of white marble with a beautiful medallion perforated like an iron
grille. The voussoirs of the gallery arches are fretted polychrome of
verd antique and Proconnesian marble.
From the exterior the building is strong and dominant as befits
its position at the highest point of the city. The square of the dome