Part 81

No less conspicuous than the Aya Sophia is the *=Mosque of Ahmed I.= (Pl. H, 7), on the S.E. side of At Meïdán. It was built by the young sultan of that name in 1608–14 as the second-largest mosque in the city, and is the only one besides the Kaaba at Mecca that has six minarets. The large outer court, planted with trees and often used as a market-place, is separated from At Meïdán by a broken-down wall. The lofty chief portal, with its stalactite niche and its fine bronze gate, leads into a forecourt flanked with domed colonnades where we notice the pretty stalactite capitals. In the centre rises a superb hexagonal marble fountain with a railing.

The interior of the mosque (79 by 70 yds.), in the style of the Mehmedieh (p. 553), resembles the Shahzadeh mosque (p. 552) in the disposition of its four half-domes. The great central dome, 73 ft. in diameter, rests on four clumsy round pillars, and around it runs a low gallery with depressed keel-arches. The walls are lined with white marble below and with beautiful fayence tiles from Nikæa above.

To the S.W. of At Meïdán is the _Janissaries’ Museum_ (Pl. G, H, 7; adm., see p. 539), in which are exhibited wax-figures wearing the ancient costumes of Turkish dignitaries and the uniforms of the Janissaries, or old body-guard (1328–1826).

To the S. of the Museum, close to the railway, rises the *=Küchük Aya Sóphia= (Pl. H, 7, 8), or ‘little’ mosque of Aya Sophia, a kind of prelude to the ‘great’, now containing a military museum. It was built under Justinian in 528, at the same time as San Vitale at Ravenna, as a church of _SS. Sergius and Bacchus_. The building is nearly square, with semicircular niches at the angles, and encloses an octagonal interior, between the eight corner-columns of which are four semicircular niches and four straight rows of columns. The junction of the walls with the dome was masked, as later in the Sophia Church, by curved triangular spandrels or pendentives.

Beyond the public garden (p. 549) we enter the RUE DIVAN YOLOU (tramway No. 3, p. 538). At the end of it, on the right, is a railed-in burial-ground containing the handsome _Türbeh of Mahmud II._ (d. 1839) and his son Abdul Aziz (sultan in 1861–76). Entrance to the right, in Rue Mahmoudié.

In the main street, now called Sedefdjilar Yolou, we next come to the second hill of New Rome (p. 541), crowned with the so-called =Burnt Column= (Pl. G, 6; Turk. _Chemberli Tash_, ‘stone with the hoop’). This great column of porphyry was erected by Constantine on the ancient ‘triumphal way’, to mark the centre of his forum, and bore his statue in bronze down to 1105. It was restored in 1909. The street then leads past the Kalpakjilar Kapu (on the right), the S. gate of the Great Bazaar (p. 551), to the Bayazid Mosque (p. 551).

From the Burnt Column the Rue Nouri Osmanié leads to the N. to the white marble _Mosque of Nuri Osmanieh_ (Pl. G, 6), a bold dome-roofed edifice copied from the Selim Mosque (p. 553), but with a semicircular forecourt.

Adjacent on the W. is the *=Great Bazaar= (Pl. G, 6; Turk. _Büyük Charshi_, ‘great market’), one of the sights of Constantinople. It lies in a depression between the Nuri Osmanieh Mosque and the Serasker Square (see below) and forms a distinct quarter of the city, enclosed by gates. As in the sûks (p. 335) the crafts mostly have their own streets or districts. Most of the buildings have been re-erected since the earthquake of 1894. To the early 17th cent. belongs the still extant castellated _Valideh Han_ (see below); of the early 18th cent. are the _Bezestán_ (the main central building, founded in the 10th cent.) and the _Sandal Bezestán_. Besides genuine Oriental wares many European goods also are sold here.

The _Nuri Osmanieh Kapu_, on the W. side of the outer court of the mosque, opens on to the KALPAKJILAR BASHI JADDESÍ, the main thoroughfare on the S. side of the Bazaar. Immediately on the right is the _Sandal Bezestán_, once the silk-bazaar, now a warehouse (usually closed).

The street on the N. side (Restaurant Tokatlian, see p. 537) leads to the W. after a few paces to the =Bezestán= (Pl. Bez.; G, 6), where artistic old weapons, gold and silver wares, inlaid furniture, etc. are displayed. In the street on the E. side are sold jewels and trinkets; on the N. side cloth, Oriental antiquities, and books; on the W. side Turkish women’s apparel and embroidery; on the S. side leather-work, etc.

From the W. gate of the Bezestán we pass through the Bezestán Jaddesí, with its clothes-shops, to the OUSOUN TCHARCHI, the main street ascending from the Rustem Pasha Mosque (p. 545) to the S. gate (Kalpakjilar Kapu, p. 550). Going straight on we may ascend through the curved Fesjiler Jaddesi, the fez-market, to the BIT BAZAR JADDESI, a street running to the N. and S., the entrance to the (left) _Second-hand Market_ (Bat Bazar, jestingly called ‘bit bazar’ or louse-market). In the other direction, a few paces to the N., is the Hakkaklar Sokak, with the stalls of the seal-engravers, booksellers, etc., leading to the Bayazid Mosque.

Those who intend to return from the Great Bazaar direct to the New Bridge (p. 545) may visit also the _Valideh Han_ (Pl. G, 5, 6; see above), the seat of the Persian traders, situated in the Chakmakjilar Yokussu, diverging to the E. from the Ousoun Tcharchi.

On the third hill of the city, the site of the forum of Theodosius I., rise the Bayazid Mosque and the Seraskerat in its large court.

The *=Mosque of Bayazid= (Pl. G, 6) was erected in 1489–97 by the Albanian _Kheireddin_, under sultan Bayazid, son of Mohammed II., the conqueror. The handsome portals of the forecourt recall Seljuk prototypes. The beautiful forecourt, enlivened ever since the time of the founder by countless pigeons, has pointed arcades with elegant domes. In the centre is an octagonal fountain. The interior, tastelessly painted in the Turkish rococo style in the 18th cent., is a simplified imitation of the Aya Sophia.

To the N. of the mosque the _Serasker Kapu_, the modern S. gateway, leads into the court, now a drilling-ground, of the _Seraskerat_ (Pl. F, G, 5; or ministry of war). Here once stood the _Eski-Seraï_, the oldest palace of the sultans (comp. p. 546). The *=Serasker Tower= (closed on Frid.; fee 3–5 pias.), about 200 ft. high, built by Mahmud II. (d. 1839) of white marble from the island of Marmara (p. 535), affords a magnificent view of the city.

Behind the barracks on the N. side of the Seraskerat, or by the Serasker Jaddesi to the right, we descend to the terrace of the Suleiman Mosque, which is surrounded by schools, baths, and the _Residence of the Sheikh ul-Islam_.

The **=Mosque of Suleiman the Great= (Turk. _Suleïmanieh_; Pl. F, G, 5), erected in 1550–66 by the Albanian _Sinán_ (Mimar Sinán Agha), on the model of the Aya Sophia and the Bayazid Mosque, is one of the two master-works of this most famous of Turkish architects (the other being the Selim mosque at Adrianople). The superb chief portal on the N.W. side is three stories in height. At the angles of the forecourt (63 by 49½ yds.) rise four minarets of unequal height. The exterior of the mosque is embellished with two arcades; the smaller domes are charmingly grouped round the great dome; the latter, only 85 ft. in diameter, is loftier than that of Aya Sophia.

Notwithstanding the striped decoration with which it was marred at the time of the restoration under Abdul Aziz (p. 550), the interior surpasses all the other mosques of Constantinople in harmony of structure, in picturesqueness of perspective, and in magnificence of ornamentation, but is unfortunately badly lighted. Between the four pillars of the dome, on each side, are two monolith columns, 29 ft. high, with stalactite capitals, supporting the upper stories of the aisles. The *Mihrâb Wall is enriched with beautiful fayence tiles and with stained glass by _Serkosh Ibrahim_.

In the burial-ground behind the mosque rise the handsome _Türbehs of Suleiman_ (fee 5 pias.) and his favourite wife _Roxolana_.

From the outer court of the mosque, with its fine old cypresses and plane-trees, we may descend to the E. to Rustem Pasha’s Mosque (p. 545) and the New Bridge (p. 545); or we may go to the N.W. to the _Old Bridge_ (Pl. F, G, 4; p. 555; toll 10 paras) and the Rue Iskander (p. 543).

From the W. gate of the Seraskerat, or from the W. angle of the outer court of the Suleiman mosque, we may soon reach the two-storied =Aqueduct of Valens= (Pl. F, E, 6, 5), dating from the reign of that emperor (368 A. D.) but much restored. It bridges the space between the fourth and third hills of the city.

On the S. side of the aqueduct, near the scene of the great fire of 1908, rises the _Shahzadeh Mosque_ (Pl. E, F, 5; ‘prince’s mosque’), an early work of Sinán (see above), erected by Suleiman in 1543–7 in memory of his son Mohammed. The plan is similar to that of the Mehmedieh (see below). It is charmingly fitted up in the interior. In the two türbehs repose the princes Mohammed and Jíhangir and the princess Mihrimah. As a rule the muezzin permits visitors to ascend one of the minarets for a small gratuity.

From this mosque the Rue Chahsadé Bachi ascends to the N.W. to the =Mosque of Mohammed II.= (Pl. D, E, 4; _Mehmedieh_ or _Fatih Jami_; comp. p. 542), the holiest in Constantinople after that of Eyúb (p. 555). It was built by the Greek _Christodulos_ in 1463–9 on the fourth hill of the city, on the site and with the materials of the _Apostles’ Church_. This church, founded by Constantine, had been restored by Justinian and was famous as the burial-place of the emperors.

The outer court, planted with cypresses, on the N.W. side of which a busy market is held, is surrounded, as in the Byzantine age, by a great many miscellaneous buildings. The plan of the mosque is probably the same as that of the Apostles’ Church. The forecourt is commanded by two minarets. The interior, in the form of a Greek cross, has four half-domes in the two axes adjoining the central dome, four smaller corner-domes, and three galleries. The whole building was modernized after the earthquake of 1767.

The first _Türbeh_ behind the mosque is that of ‘the Conqueror’.

From the N.W. corner of the outer court the Sultan Mehmed and Sultan Selim streets lead to the N. to the _Mosque of Selim I._ (Pl. E, 3; Turk. _Selimieh_) on the fifth city-hill, erected by Suleiman the Great in 1520–6 in memory of his warlike father Selim I. (p. 542). This is the simplest of all the sultans’ mosques. The outer walls are roofed with a single semicircular dome.

To the S. of Mehmedieh, between the fourth city-hill and the _Lykos Valley_, among the ruins caused by a fire, rises _Marcian’s Column_ (Pl. D, E, 5; Turk. Kiz Tash, maiden’s stone), erected in honour of that emperor (450–7).

In the Lykos Valley, to the S.W. of Marcian’s Column, once lay the _Barracks of the Janissaries_ (p. 550), who were massacred in the Et Meïdán here (Pl. D, 5; ‘place of flesh’) after a revolt in 1826.—In the _Ak Seraï_ quarter (Pl. D, E, 6), on the ancient triumphal way (p. 550), lay the Roman _Forum Boarium_ (cattle-market). The road ascended thence to the seventh city-hill. Here, in the quarter now called _Avret Bazar_, is still seen the pedestal of the marble _Column of Arcadius_ (Pl. D, 7; Turk. Avret Tash, women’s stone), the sole surviving relic of the forum of Arcadius.

From the Mehmedieh a main street (carr. 5 pias.) leads direct in ¼ hr., to the N.W., to the Edirneh Kapu (see below).

Beside the city-wall, near Rue Edirné Kapou, is the sixth and highest city-hill, on which rises the _Mihrimah Mosque_ (Pl. C, 3), built in 1556 by Sinán (p. 552) for the princess Mihrimah (p. 545), on the site of the Byzantine monastery of St. George, and restored in 1910.—From the Greek _Church of St. George_ we walk about 250 paces to the N.E., and then descend to the right, near the city-wall, to visit the—

=Kahrieh Mosque= (Pl. C, 2), once the church of the monastery of _Chora_ (‘in the country’), which probably existed before the time of Theodosius II. It was restored in the 11th cent. and enlarged in the 14th, and contains famous Byzantine *Mosaics (sacristan lives near).

We now turn our steps to the ruinous _Edirneh Kapu_ (Pl. C, 2; Adrianople Gate), the gate of Charisius or cemetery-gate (Porta Polyandriu) of the Byzantines.

Outside the gate, where stretches the largest _Moslem Cemetery_ of Stambul, we obtain an excellent view of the old *=Land-Wall= of the city, over 4 M. in length. The chief part of it is the _Theodosian Wall_ (p. 541), extending from the Sea of Marmora to the Tekfur Seraï (see below). This was originally a single wall, defended by towers, but after an earthquake in 447 it was doubled, the two walls being 66 yds. apart and, from the bottom of the moat, 100 ft. high.

The S. part of the land-wall may be visited by carriage (one-horse 10, two-horse 10 or 15 pias.; bargaining necessary) from the Edirneh Kapu. We drive past _Top Kapu_ (Pl. A, 4; ‘cannon-gate’), once the gate of St. Romanos, famed in the siege of 1453, to Yedi Kuleh railway-station (Pl. A, B, 9). We may return thence to the town by local train (about every ½ hr.), or from the Yedi Kuleh Gate by tramway (No. 4; change at Ak Seraï, p. 553), or from Psamatia Kapu (Pl. B, 8) by local steamer (p. 538).

Near the S. end of the wall rises the castle of =Yedi Kuleh= (Pl. A, 9; ‘seven towers’; adm. except Sun. 2½ pias.; small fee to lantern-bearer), rebuilt by Mohammed II., within which is the dilapidated _Porta Aurea_ (‘golden gate’), once the triumphal gate of the Byzantine emperors.—On the Sea of Marmora, at the point where the land-wall joined the _Marmora Sea Wall_, rises the octagonal _Mermer Kuleh_ (Pl. A, 9; ‘marble tower’), the sole relic of a castle of the time of Emp. Basil II. (976–1025).

To the N.E. of the Edirneh Kapu, beyond the _Greek Cemetery_ (Pl. C, 2), the Theodosian city-wall is joined by the single but stronger _Wall of the Blachernae Quarter_ (‘marsh-land quarter’). This wall served for the defence of the famous St. Mary’s Church of the empress Pulcheria (ca. 450), and for that of the Blachernæ Palace, founded at the end of the 5th cent., which in the 12th cent. became the imperial residence instead of the older palaces in the Augusteion (p. 549). The wall dates partly from the reigns of Emp. Heraklios (610–41), Leo V. (813–20), and Manuel Comnenus (1143–80), but was largely rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The ruined Byzantine palace rising above the town-wall near the small _Kerkoporta_ (Pl. C, 2), the so-called _Tekfur Seraï_ (‘emperor’s palace’), was probably founded by Constantine VII. Porphyrogenetos (912–59). Of the _Blachernae Palace_ itself the foundations are still traceable between the _Egri Kapu_ (Pl. C, 1; once Porta Kaligaria) and the Aivas Effendi Mosque. To the old terrace of the palace belonged the massive _Towers of Isaak Angelos_ and _Anemas_ (Pl. C, 1).

On the N. side the land-walls end with the picturesque castle of _Brachionon_ or _Pentapyrgion_, answering to the Yedi Kuleh on the S. side. It lies between the inner and the site of the outer Blachernæ gate. Near it are buried the Arabs who fell in 678 (p. 541).

From the _Aivan Seraï Kapu_ (Pl. D, 1), which belongs to the old _Sea Wall on the Golden Horn_ (p. 541), a broad road to the left (N.W.) leads through the suburb of _Ortakjilar_ (Pl. B, C, 1) to (¾ M.) Eyúb (p. 555). Straight on, we soon reach the Aivan Seraï pier (p. 555).

c. The Golden Horn.

By CAÏQUE (p. 538) from the New Bridge to Eyúb about 1 hr., to the Sweet Waters 1½–2 hrs. (there and back 20–25 pias.). The row back is particularly fine towards sunset.—STEAMBOAT (p. 538) to Eyúb in ¾ hr., thence to the Sweet Waters 20 min.

The =Golden Horn=, already named _Chrysokeras_ by the Greeks, an arm of the sea 4½ M. long and at the widest point ½ M. across, probably a submerged side-valley of the Bosporus, is one of the finest natural harbours in the world. In the Byzantine period it was closed for defensive purposes by a chain. It consists of the _Outer Commercial Harbour_ (Pl. H, I, 4, 5), with the Galata Quay (p. 543) and the new quays on the Stambul side, the _Inner Commercial Harbour_ (Pl. G, H, 4), between the two bridges, and the _Naval Harbour_ (Pl. E-G, 2, 3).

The voyager on the Golden Horn is chiefly struck with the busy harbour scenes and the picturesque appearance of the crowded Oriental quarters rising from the banks. Starting from the New Bridge (Pl. H, 4) the steamer crosses the inner commercial harbour to the pier of _Yemish Iskelesí_ (Pl. G, 4) at Stambul, at the foot of the terrace of the Suleiman Mosque, and then passes under the Old Bridge (Pl. F, G, 4; p. 552) into the naval harbour. On the Stambul side it first calls at the piers of _Jubali Kapu_ and _Aya Kapu_ (Pl. F, 3), the latter lying below Selim’s Mosque (p. 553).

Next, on the same side, are the piers of _Phanar_ (Pl. E, 2), the Greek quarter, where a terrible massacre took place in 1821, and _Balat_ (Pl. D, 2), the largest Jewish quarter.

On the opposite bank, from the Old Bridge onwards, lie the dockyard buildings. On the bay of _Kasím Pasha_ (calling-place of some of the steamboats) is the _Ministry of Marine_ (Divan Haneh; Pl. G, 2, 3), with its surrounding barracks, workshops, and docks. In front of it are anchored men-of-war and guard-ships.

The steamer next touches at _Ters Haneh_ (Pl. E, 2), on the E. bank, at the end of the dockyard, and at the Jewish quarter of _Haskiöi_ (Has Keuï; Pl. E, 1); then, on the W. bank, at _Aivan Seraï_ (Pl. D, 1; p. 554), where we have a fine view of the N.E. end of the land-walls and the beginning of the sea-wall on the Golden Horn; then, on the E. bank, at _Kalijeh Oglu_, and on the W. bank at _Defterdar Iskelesí_ (Pl. C, 1) and _Eyúb_ (see inset plans in Plan of City).

In the suburb of *=Eyúb=, a few minutes’ walk from the pier, is the famous _Mosque of Eyúb_, where the ceremony of girding each new sultan with the sword takes place. It was built of white marble by Mohammed II., the Conqueror, in 1459, adjacent to the türbeh of Abu Eyúb Ensari, the legendary standard-bearer of the prophet, whose tomb here was revealed in a vision a few days after the conquest. The spot is so revered by the Moslems that until now no Christian dared set foot even in the outer court. Since the establishment of the new Turkish government, however, visitors may enter the deeply impressive court and even the mosque itself, but they should be careful not to remain standing between the railings in the centre of the court and the gilded windows on the wall-side.

From the mosque, up the hill-side to the N.E., extends the picturesque _Cemetery_, with its venerable cypresses. A path ascends from the mosque, past a monastery (_Tekkeh_) of the dancing dervishes (p. 543), to the top, where we have a splendid *View of both banks of the Golden Horn.

From Eyúb a smaller local steamer plies through the _Stambul Liman_, the shallow N.W. arm of the Golden Horn, 1¼ M. long, to _Kiathaneh_, or _Kiahat Haneh_; this trip, on Fridays or Sundays in spring, affords an interesting picture of Turkish life. At Kiathaneh two streams fall into the Golden Horn, the so-called =Sweet Waters of Europe= (the Asiatic waters, see p. 558), or _Eaux Douces_. The eastmost is the _Kiathaneh Suyu_, in the valley of which, about 1¼ M. up, is a château of the sultan, the most popular holiday resort of the citizens of Constantinople. In the meadows, under shady trees, are erected huts and arbours, where music and amusements of all kinds are provided. The Moslems enjoy themselves sedately here on Fridays; the Christians come on Sundays; hither too the people of fashion ride or drive. Shortly before sunset a whole flotilla of boats on the Golden Horn returns home to the city.

d. Scutari.

STEAM FERRY BOATS from the _New Bridge_ (see p. 538) and _Beshiktash_ to Scutari. Those from the New Bridge to the minor stations _Salajak_, near the Leander tower, and _Harem-Iskelesí_, below the Selimieh Barracks (p. 536), are less frequent and are seldom used by strangers.—CARRIAGES have the same tariff as in the city (p. 538). Drive from the pier to the Chamlija Spring and back viâ the Great Cemetery (about 2½ hrs.) 1½ mejidiehs (30 pias.).—HORSE to the Bulgurlu about 1 mej.

The steamer leaves the Seraglio Point on the right and steers to the E. to (¼ hr.) the chief landing-place at Scutari, which lies on the Asiatic shore, in a bay to the N. of the promontory. To the right, off the end of the promontory, is a flat islet on which rises the so-called _Leander’s Tower_ (by the Turks named _Kiz Kulesí_, _i.e._ maiden’s tower, from the legend that a sultan’s daughter was once kept here), with a signalling station and lights.

=Scutari= (no European inns), Turk. _Üsküdar_, the ancient _Chrysopolis_, the harbour of Chalcedon (p. 536), now a large suburb of Constantinople, contains 90,000 inhab., comparatively few of whom are Armenians and Greeks. Its fine old mosques, its crooked streets, and its small timber houses give it a more Oriental character than Stambul. Until a century ago Scutari was the terminus of the caravan-routes from Asia Minor, by which the treasures of the East were brought to Constantinople. It is still the starting-point of the sacred annual Mecca caravan.

From the pier we follow the broad main street past the _Büyük Jami_ (‘Great Mosque’; 1547), on the left, and the _Yeni Valideh Jami_ (1707–10), on the right, beyond which a road to the right diverges to the Dervishes’ Monastery and the Great Cemetery.

The street, inclining to the left, next leads to the quarters of =Yeni Mahalleh=, with an Armenian cemetery, and =Baglar Bashi=; then, past villas, to the village of =Bulgurlukiöi=. Before the village is reached a road to the left leads to (2 M. from the pier) the =Chamlija Spring=, shaded by great plane-trees, a favourite Friday and Sunday resort like the Sweet Waters (p. 556).

We may thence ascend (to the N., ¼ hr.) the =Great Bulgurlu= or _Büyük Chamlija_ (879 ft.; small café, bargaining necessary), which, in the forenoon especially, affords a superb *View of Constantinople, the Bosporus, and the Sea of Marmora.

On the way back we turn to the left, skirting the Armenian cemetery, to visit the *_Great Cemetery_ (Büyük Mezaristán), the largest Moslem burial-ground in the East. The lower road through it leads to the N. to the _Monastery of the Howling Dervishes_ (Rufaï Tekkeh; no admittance).

To the S. of the Great Cemetery lies _Haidar Pasha_ (p. 536), with a large _Military Hospital_, where Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) first devoted herself to her philanthropic work. Adjoining the Hospital is the _British Cemetery_, containing a tall granite Obelisk in memory of the British who fell in the Crimean war.

e. The Bosporus.

LOCAL STEAMERS (p. 538), with 17 stations on the European side and 12 on the Asiatic, never all touched at on the same voyage. To _Rumeli Kavak_, the northmost station on the W. shore, in 2 hrs., 5 (in summer 6) steamers only. From any station it is easy to ferry to the opposite shore (5–10 pias.).