Up the Golden Horn to Eyüp - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 370

meadows between them were the site of royal gardens, palaces and
pavilions, and were a favourite holiday resort for city-dwellers, as they
are once again becoming today.
PİYALE PAŞA CAMİİ
The first stop of the ferry is on the north shore of the Golden Horn
at Kasım Paşa, a short way above the Atatürk Bridge. Here one might
make an excursion by taxi in order to visit one of the most interesting
and enigmatic of the classical mosques, that of Piyale Paşa, about a
mile straight up the valley from the landing stage. Constructed in
1573, the mosque is unique in the classical period in more than one
respect. In the first place it is the only classical mosque to revert in
plan to the Ulu Cami or multidomed type, common in the Selçuk
and early Ottoman periods. Its six ample and equal domes in two
rows of three are supported by two great red granite columns. Thus
far it follows the earlier type, but all else is diferent. In the centre of
the west wall opposite the mihrab is a small balcony supported on
six columns, and behind this rises very unusually the single minaret,
which is thus in the middle of the west façade. The entrance portals
are to the right and left of the balcony, and there are narrow galleries
along the sides of the building. The room is lighted by numerous
windows, many of the upper ones being round, oeils-de-boeuf; between
the second and third tier a wide frieze of faience has inscriptions
from the Kuran in white on a blue ground, from the hand of the
famous hattat (calligrapher) Karahisarı, who wrote the inscriptions
in the Süleymaniye. The mihrab also is a very beautiful work of Iznik
tiles of the best period. The whole interior is not merely unusual
but exceptionally charming. The exterior is even more unusual.
Around three sides of the building runs a deep porch whose vaults
are supported by stout rectangular pillars; above the side porches were
galleries with sloping roofs supported on innumerable small columns,
while in front of the main western porch was another lower one with
22 columns. The roofs of this and the upper galleries on the sides
have unfortunately disappeared, but from old pictures one can see
how fascinating this unique arrangement was. The founder's türbe
behind the mosque also had a columned porch, and it is said that the