Pera and Galata - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 415

slightly earlier mosque near the Hippodrome, it is nevertheless a fine
and interesting building. Like the mosque of Rüstem Paşa on the other
side of the Golden Horn, it is raised on a high basement in which
there were once vaulted shops; the entrance, now rather squeezed by
the approach to the bridge, is by staircases under the enclosed porch.
The minaret is unusual both in position and structure. First of all, it
is on the left or north side instead of the south, doubtless because the
sea at that time came up very close to the south wall and the ground
would not have been firm enough for so heavy a structure as a minaret.
Furthermore, it is detached from the building and placed on a solid
foundation of its own, and is connected with the mosque above porch
level by a picturesque arch containing a communicating passage so
that it can be entered from the porch. Internally the arrangement is an
octagon inscribed in a rectangle (nearly square). The dome is supported
by eight small semidomes, those in the axes slightly larger than those
in the diagonals, while the eastern semidome covers a rectangular
projecting apse for the mihrab, with narrow galleries surrounding three
sides. The mihrab and mimber are very fine work in carved marble.
It appears that the interior was once decorated with fine Iznik tiles,
like that of Sokollu's other mosque, but these have disappeared and
been replaced by modern Kütahya tiles. Seventy years ago the mosque
was in a ruinous condition and the municipality actually proposed
to demolish it to make way for the newly planned Atatürk Bridge. A
public protest succeeded in saving the mosque and finally getting it
restored. This was indeed fortunate, for it is certainly among the more
interesting and important of Sinan's buildings.
Just to the north of the mosque stands the famous baroque, or
rococo fountain, of Azap Kapı. Built in A.H. 1145 (A.D. 1732-3) by
Saliha Valide Hatun, mother of Mahmut I, it consists of a projecting
sebil with three grilled windows flanked by two large and magnificent
çeşmes. The façades of the çeşmes and sebil are entirely covered with
floral decorations in low relief and with a little dome. For many
years in almost total ruin, it has recently been fairly well restored,
though unfortunately the fluted drum of the dome has been done
in concrete. It is one of the most attractive of the early eighteenth-
century fountains.