Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
extant in Istanbul, although that belonging to Yeni Cami is one of
the very few still serving something like its original purpose (bottled
water is now sold there rather than given away free). These sebils are
often extremely attractive, with ornate bronze grilles and sculptured
marble façades. The architects who designed the pious foundations
of Istanbul were quite fond of using sebils to adorn the outer wall of
a külliye, particularly at a street-corner. Although most of the sebils
in town no longer distribute free water, they still gratify passers-by
with their beauty. For that reason they should still provide a path to
paradise for their departed donors.
TOWARDS THE FIRST HILL
The next street to the right beyond the sebil is a narrow alley which
leads to the hamam, or public bath of Yıldız Dede. This gentleman,
whose name was Necmettin, was an astrologer (Yıldız = Star) in
the court of Sultan Mehmet II and won fame by predicting the fall
of Constantinople from the celestial configurations at that time.
According to tradition, Yıldız Dede built his hamam on the site of an
ancient synagogue, probably one belonging to the Karaite Jews. The
present bath, however, appears to date only from the time of Sultan
Mahmut I, about 1730. It is now known as Yıldız Hamamı, but of
old it was called Çıfıt Hamamı, the Bath of the Jews.
A little farther down the main street (Hamidiye Caddesi) and on
the same side we come to the türbe of Sultan Abdül Hamit I. During
his reign, from 1774 till 1789, the Ottoman armies sufered a series of
humiliating defeats at the hands of the Russians and the Empire began
to lose its dominions in the Balkans. By that time the reputation of
the once proud Ottomans had sunk so low that Catherine the Great
was heard to remark to the Emperor Joseph: “What is to become of
those poor devils, the Turks?” Buried alongside Abdül Hamit in this
türbe is his son, the mad Sultan Mustafa IV. Mustafa, the second
imperial lunatic to bear that name, was responsible for the murder
of his cousin, Selim III, and nearly succeeded in bringing about the
execution of his younger brother, Mahmut II. Mustafa was eventually
deposed on 28 July 1808 and was himself executed three months
later.
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