Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City (58 page)

Nevertheless, Eyüp itself has so far resisted the worst encroachments of the modern world and it contains some of the most interesting as well as some of the most sacred relics of Ottoman piety; of all the suburbs of Istanbul it is the one which most repays a visit. The best way of reaching Eyüp is by ferry from the Galata Bridge, particularly now that new and more comfortable ferries have been put into service. The journey is pleasant and affords an opportunity of viewing from a distance the villages and districts on the way. Alternatively one can take a taxi, stopping en route at a number of the interesting monuments on the north shore of the Golden Horn above the Atatürk Bridge, which we will visit on this itinerary.

The Golden Horn (Hal
ı
ç or Estuary in Turkish) has become badly polluted in the past century, although a vigorous effort is now being made to clean up the Horn and its shores. The Golden Horn is an inlet of the Bosphorus, stretching north-west for some 11 kilometres from Saray Point, with an average width of about 400 metres. At its northern end two little streams flow into the Horn, Alibey Suyu on the west and Kâ
ğ
ı
thane Suyu on the east; they were once known to Europeans as the Sweet Waters of Europe. For centuries the charming 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.

The first stop of the ferry is on the north shore of the Golden Horn at Kas
ı
m Pa
ş
a, 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 Pa
ş
a, 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 different. 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) Karahisar
ı
, 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 total number of columns was 118; evidently Piyale had a passion for them. Piyale Pa
ş
a, son of a Croatian shoemaker, was brought up in the Palace School and married a daughter of Selim II; he was Lord High Admiral and conquered the island of Chios as well as repeatedly harrying the coasts of Italy.

At Kas
ı
m Pa
ş
a is the famous naval Arsenal
(Tershane)
, originally built by Mehmet the Conqueror. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it made a great impression on foreign travellers, for it could accommodate 120 ships in drydock and there was nothing like it in Europe. Now its activities are more modest. At the water’s edge not far beyond the landing stage is a pretty little nineteenth-century palace for the commandant in charge of the Ta
ş
k
ı
zak Naval Arsenal.

Farther up the north shore of the Golden Horn, opposite Balat, we see the former imperial residence known as Aynal
ı
Kavak Kasr, the Pavilion of the Mirroring Poplars. This handsome building was probably constructed during the reign of Ahmet III (r. 1703–30), restored by Selim III (r. 1789–1807), and given its present form with alterations by Mahmut II (r. 1808–39). Aynal
ı
Kavak figures in Turkish history as the site of the peace conference which in 1779 ended a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The palace was restored and reopened in 1993 as a museum, housing a fascinating collection of Turkish musical instruments.

After Kas
ı
m Pa
ş
a the next ferry stop is at Fener on the south shore of the Golden Horn. The ferry then crosses over to stop at Hasköy on the north shore before going on to its last stop at Eyüp. At Hasköy one might want to break the journey by visiting the very interesting Rahmi M. Koç Industrial Museum. Part of the museum is housed in a beautifully restored Ottoman lengerhane, a forge for making ship’s chains and anchors, a structure dating from the reign of Ahmet III. One of the buildings of the lengerhane has been converted into a very attractive restaurant called the Café du Levant.

THE MOSQUE AND TÜRBE OF EYÜP

The mosque of Eyüp is the holiest in Istanbul; indeed after Mecca and Jerusalem it is perhaps the third most sacred place of pilgrimage in the Islamic world. This is because it is the reputed burial place of Eyüp (Job) Ensari, the friend and standard-bearer of the Prophet Muhammed. Long after the Prophet’s death, Eyüp is said to have been one of the leaders of the first Arab siege of Constantinople from 674 to 678 and to have been killed and buried somewhere outside the walls. When some eight centuries later Fatih Mehmet besieged the city, he and his advisors, as Evliya Çelebi writes,

This pleasant story, though still current and recounted in one form or another by the guides and guidebooks, seems rather unlikely – apart from its supernatural elements – because it appears that the tomb had always been known and respected even by the Byzantines. Various Arab historians note that it was made a condition of peace, after the first Arab siege, that the tomb should be preserved. An Arab traveller during the reign of Manuel I Comnenus (r. 1143–80) mentions it as still existing in his day, while another traveller, Zakariya al-Kazwini (ca. 1203–83), relates that “this tomb is now venerated among them (the Byzantines) and they open it when they pray for rain in times of drought; and rain is granted them.” If the tomb was still extant in early Palaeologan times, it seems improbable that it should so completely have disappeared before the Turkish Conquest. Probably, Fatih restored or rebuilt it on a grander scale.

The külliye as a whole, originally including the türbe, mosque, medrese, han, hamam, imaret and market, was built by Fatih Mehmet in 1458, five years after the Conquest. Here on their accession to the throne the Ottoman sultans were girded with the sword of Osman, a ceremony equivalent to coronation. By the end of the eighteenth century the mosque had fallen into ruin, perhaps a victim of the great earthquake of 1766 which had destroyed Fatih’s own mosque. At all events, in 1798 under Sultan Selim III, what remained of the building was torn down and the present mosque erected in its place and finished in 1800; only the minarets, the gift of Ahmet III, remain from the older building.

One approaches through an outer courtyard of irregular shape but great picturesqueness. The two great gateways with their undulating baroque forms, the staircase and gallery to the imperial loge, the huge and aged plane trees in whose hollows live lame storks and in whose branches beautiful grey herons build their nests in spring, the flocks of pampered pigeons – all this makes the courtyard the most delightful in Istanbul. From here one enters the inner court, surrounded on three sides by an unusually tall and stately colonnade and also shaded by venerable plane trees. The mosque itself in plan is an octagon inscribed in a rectangle and closely resembles Sinan’s Azap Kap
ı
Camii, though on a rather larger scale and with many baroque details of decoration. But in spite of its late date the mosque is singularly attractive with its pale honey-coloured stone, the decorations picked out in gold, and the elegant chandelier hanging from the centre of the dome.

The side of the building opposite the mosque is a blank wall, most of it covered with panels of tiles without an overall pattern and of many different periods, some of them of great individual beauty. A door in the wall leads to the vestibule of the türbe of Eyüp, an octagonal building three sides of which project into the vestibule. The latter is itself sheathed in tiles, many of them of the best Iznik period. The türbe is sumptuously decorated, though with work largely of the baroque period.

Of the other buildings of the külliye the medrese, which according to Evliya formed the courtyard of the mosque, was evidently swept away when the latter was rebuilt; the imaret is a ruin. But of the hamam the so
ğ
ukluk and hararet still remain and are in use; they have the elaborate and attractive dome structure typical of the early period, and handsome marble floors. The original camekân has completely disappeared and been replaced by a rather make-shift one largely of wood. In the Victoria and Albert Museum there is a very fine panel of 24 Iznik tiles of about 1570 from this hamam, very probably from the demolished camekân.

THE KÜLL
İ
YE OF M
İ
HR
İŞ
AH SULTAN

Leaving Eyüp Camii by the north gate, one finds oneself in a narrow street that leads down to the Golden Horn. Most of the left side of this street is occupied by the enormous külliye built in 1794 by Mihri
ş
ah Valide Sultan, mother of Selim III. This is one of the largest and most elaborate of all the baroque complexes and includes the türbe of the foundress together with a mektep, an imaret, and a splendid sebil and çe
ş
mes. The türbe is round, but the façade undulates turning it into a polygon, the various faces being separated by slender columns of red or dark grey marble; in general it recalls the türbe of Nak
ş
idil at Fatih, though it is not quite so flamboyant. The entrance is in a little courtyard filled with tombstones and trees, along one side of which runs the columned portico of the mektep or primary school. Farther along the street another monumental gateway leads into the vast courtyard with more and tombstones and surrounded on three sides by the porticoes of the huge imaret or public kitchen. This is one of the very few imarets in Istanbul which still fulfil their function as food kitchens for the poor of the district; some 500 people are served daily at 11 o’clock with food to take away. In leaving you should notice the magnificent sebil at the end of the garden wall on the street side.

Continuing towards the water, one passes on the right the türbe and on the left the library of Hüsref Pa
ş
a, dated 1839 and both in heavy
Empire
style; but the domes of the library reading-rooms contain a good example of that horrendous Italianate comic opera painted decoration of garlands, draperies and columns, which is so distressing when it occurs in classical buildings but is quite appropriate here. At the end of the street at the waters edge one gets a good view of the neo-classical türbe of the Sultan Mehmet V Re
ş
at who died in 1918, oddly enough the only one of all the sultans to be buried in the holy precincts of Eyüp and the last to be buried in his own country. It is a rather heavy building, the interior revetted in modern Kütahya tiles predominantly of a vivid (too vivid) green.