From the Galata Bridge to Haghia Sophia - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 22

see the kürsü, where the imam sits when he is reading the Kuran
to the congregation. And to the right of the main entrance, set up
against the main pier at that end, we find the müezzin mahfili, a
covered marble pew. During the Friday services and other ceremonial
occasions the müezzin kneels there, accompanied perhaps by a few
other singers, and chants the responses to the prayers of the imam.
During these formal occasions of worship, the faithful kneel in long
lines and columns throughout the mosque, following the prayers
attentively and responding with frequent and emphatic amens. The
women, who take no part in the public prayers, are relegated to the
open chambers under the gallery to the rear of the mosque.
The mosque interior is overlooked by an upper gallery on both
sides and to the rear, with the two side galleries carried on slender
marble columns. At the far corner of the left gallery we see the sultan's
loge, or hünkâr mahfili, which is screened of by a gilded grille so
that the sultan and his party would be shielded from the public gaze
when they attended services. Access to the sultan's loge is gained from
the outside by a very curious ramp behind the mosque. This ramp
leads to a suite of rooms built over a great archway; from these a door
leads to the hünkâr mahfili. This suite of rooms included a salon, a
bedchamber and a toilet, with kitchens on the lower level, and served
as a pied-à-terre for the Sultan.
Yeni Cami, like all of the imperial mosques, was the centre of a
whole complex of religious and philanthropic institutions called
a külliye. The original külliye of Yeni Cami included a hospital, a
primary school, a public bath, two public fountains, a mausoleum and
a market, whose profits were used towards the support of the other
institutions in the külliye. The hospital, the primary school and the
public bath have been destroyed but the other institutions remain.
The market of Yeni Cami is the handsome L-shaped building to
the south and west of the mosque. It is called the Mısır Çarşısı, or
the Egyptian Market, because it was once endowed with the Cairo
imposts. In English it is more commonly known as the Spice Bazaar,
for in former times it was famous for the spices and medicinal herbs
which were sold there. Spices and herbs are still sold there today, but
the bazaar now deals in a wide variety of commodities, which makes