Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
distance in from the west wall; galleries supported on a rather heavy
arcade, some of whose arches are of the ogive type, run round three
sides. The walls, which rise in a rectangle to the full height of the dome
drum, are pierced with many windows and in spite of the width of
the galleries provide plenty of light. The general efect of the interior
is perhaps a little heavy but nonetheless grand and impressive: and it
is quite diferent from that of any other mosque.
The leaves of the main entrance door are fine inlaid work in
wood, as are the mimber and mahfil in carved marble. The only
other remaining decoration is some excellent faience in the mihrab;
perhaps there was once more tile work which has perished, for Evliya
tells us that “architectural ornaments and decorations are nowhere
lavished in so prodigal a way as here”; and he calls it “the finest of
all the mosques in the Ottoman empire built by vezirs,”
and adds:
“the architect Sinan in this building displayed his utmost art.” The
mosque was for many years in a state of near ruin but has now been
very well restored.
The complex includes two medreses, like the mosque itself built
of stone and brick, one round three sides of the main courtyard, the
other on a lower level to the north, enclosing two sides of the türbe
garden. They are both extremely picturesque and irregular in design.
In the upper medrese most of the south side consists of a building
without a portico, which looks rather like an imaret and may perhaps
have served as one. The dershane is not in the centre of the west wall
but has been shifted to near the north end, and the last arches of the
portico on this side are smaller than the others. There is no obvious
reason for any of these abnormalities but they have a certain charm,
enhanced by the ogive arches of the arcade. At the north-east corner
a long flight of steps leads down to the garden of the türbe. The lower
medrese partly encloses two sides of it. It is an octagonal building of
the usual type in which are buried Zal and his wife.
A door in the east wall of the türbe garden leads to another külliye
of a very diferent type, one of the most delightful of the smaller
baroque complexes. It consists of an elaborate türbe and mektep with
a sebil on the street and a çeşme in the garden. It was built at the
end of the eighteenth century by Şah Sultan, a sister of Selim III.
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