Part 81

Like the Suleïmanieh (p. 552) the mosque is preceded by two colonnades. In the interior the lower wall surfaces and the four massive pillars of the dome are incrusted with bluish-green tiles. The mihrâb wall is connected with the pillars by a gallery; adjoining it, near the mihrâb or prayer-niche itself, are the superb pulpit and the railed-in gallery of the sultan. The adjacent *Private Rooms of the sultan still have their original decoration of fayence tiles and stained glass.

The Türbeh contains the sarcophagus of the sultan’s mother and the tombs of five sultans, recognizable by the turban and double heron’s plume.

On the W. side of the outer court is the =Missir Charshi= (Pl. G, 5; ‘Egyptian Bazaar’), originally for goods from Egypt, but now a general market, next in importance to the Great Bazaar (p. 551). Among the wares in the open shops of the vaulted street the chief commodities are spices, drugs, and pigments.

To the W. of the Egyptian Bazaar, at the foot of Rue Ousoun Tcharchi (p. 551), rises the _Mosque of Rustem Pasha_ (Pl. G, 5), vizier of Suleiman the Great (p. 542) and husband of his daughter Mihrimah (p. 553). It was built by Sinán (p. 552). The interior is noteworthy chiefly for the superb effect produced by its fayence tiles.

We follow the tramway (No. 3; p. 538), to the S.E., through the Rue Bagtché Kapou, so named after the old ‘garden-gate’ of Stambul, and the Hamidieh Jaddesi, crossing the broad Bab Ali Jaddesi which leads to the left to the _Railway Station_ (p. 537). Farther on we come to the wall of the Seraglio on the left, and to (10 min.) the _Sublime Porte_ (Pl. H, 6; vizierate and ministry of foreign affairs) on the right. Its central part, which contained the ministry of home affairs and the cabinet was burnt down in Feb. 1911.

The =Seraglio= or _Seraï_ (Pl. H-I, 5, 7; now officially called _Top Kapu Seraï_, ‘seraglio of the cannon-gate’), with its neglected garden-terraces and miscellaneous buildings, occupies the site of the Acropolis and oldest streets of Byzantium (p. 541) and the first of the seven hills of New Rome. Within the extensive precincts, enclosed by a pinnacled wall and defended by towers, Mohammed II. in 1468 erected a summer palace, which Suleiman the Great (p. 542) enlarged and made his residence. All the sultans resided here until Abdul Mejíd built the Dolma Bagcheh Palace (1850–5; p. 558). In 1873 the railway was carried through the gardens, past the _Granite Column of Emp. Claudius II._ (268–70 A. D.). Around the palace are grouped the old church of Irene (p. 548), several military and other new buildings, the imperial _Mint_, and the _School of Art_ founded in 1889.

From the chief entrance, the _So-uk Cheshmeh Gate_ (Pl. H, 6), we ascend to the right, past the Mint, to the first terrace. A road to the left leads thence, behind the School of Art, to the New Museum, on the right, and the Chinili Kiosque, on the left.

The =New Museum= (Pl. I, 6), opened in 1891, contains the imperial **_Collection of Antiquities_, the arrangement of which is still incomplete. Adm., see p. 539. Director, Halil Bey.

GROUND FLOOR. The first rooms, on the right and left of the entrance, contain the sarcophagi, including the famous coffins discovered in 1887 in the so-called royal tombs of Sidon (p. 470). The two vaults, in which the rulers of Sidon of the 6–4th cent. B. C. are supposed to have been buried, contained 26 stone coffins, some in the Egyptian form of a mummy, with sculptured heads, others shaped like Greek temples. In several cases their execution is highly artistic. The finest are in (right) Room I: *No. 48. So-called Satrap’s Coffin, of Ionian workmanship (first half of 5th cent.); *49. Sarcophagus of the mourning women, in marble, in the form of a temple, influenced in style by the works of Praxiteles (4th cent.). In (left) Room II: *No. 75. Lycian sarcophagus, with lid in the form of a pointed arch, executed under the fresh influence of the Parthenon reliefs (p. 517); **76. Alexander sarcophagus, an Attic original (about 300 B. C.), with traces of rich colouring; 90. Sarcophagus of Tabnit, king of Sidon, originally that of an Egyptian general (6th cent.). Again, in Room I: No. 1142. Tomb-stele from Nisyros (p. 490; about 500 B.C.); 45. Tomb-stele from Pella, a fine early Greek work like the last; 31–33. Fragments of Roman sarcophagi (Ulysses fighting against the wooers, etc.); also leaden coffins from Beirut, Khoms (p. 412), etc. (Room II contains also six terracotta coffins from Klazomenæ, 6th cent. B. C.). Among the objects in the other rooms we note a large Lycian sarcophagus from Trysa (2nd cent. B. C.); *1179. Late Roman sarcophagus from the region of Konia, with the recumbent figures of man and wife.

A large room is devoted solely to the art and inscriptions of the Hittites, the dominating race on the Upper Euphrates, in Syria, and in Asia Minor from about 1500 to 1000 B.C., who were afterwards split up into small principalities and lost their national characteristics. From this later period (about 9–8th cent.) date the numerous objects from Senjerli in N. Syria (among others No. 873. Two sphinxes as a base of a column). Other relics are from Marrash in N. Syria (840. Lion with inscription) and from Albistan (835. Limestone pillar).

Two rooms are set apart for the Greek-Roman sculptures. Among the chief early Greek works (6th cent. B.C.) are: No. 5bis. Reliefs from a tombstone in the form of a pillar, with scenes of peace and war; 8, 133. Torso of Apollo and Relief of Hercules drawing his bow, both from Thasos; 680. Tomb-stele from Dorylæum in Phrygia; *78. Head of a man, early Ionian, from Rhodes; 32, 33. Kybele, from Kyme; 1136. Relief, Birth of Athena, from Chalcedon.—Of the 5th cent.: No. 1189. Caryatid; 1433. Hermes Propylæos, after the famous work of Alkamenes (Roman copy); *148. Snake’s head from the tripod in the At Meïdán (p. 549). Among other creations of the Greek golden age (4th cent.) are: No. 1121. Statue of a youth; 114. Upper half of a stele, from Kyzikos; 1242. Relief with a portrait of Euripides; 1028. Relief of a woman playing on the lyre, from Mysia.—Hellenistic sculptures from Pergamum (p. 533): *764. Dancer, from a large circular monument; *1138. Marble head (Alexander the Great?); 72. Marsyas hanging (a good copy); also important: *709. Alexander the Great, from Magnesia on the Sipylos; 685. Colossal head of Zeus, from Troy; 9. Colossal statue of Apollo, from Tralleis; *1423. Relief of a boatman (?), from Tralleis, in the style of the ‘Alexandrine’ reliefs.—Of Roman origin: 31. Largest representation of the so-called Thracian horseman, from a triumphal arch at Saloniki.

In the room of the Byzantine antiquities we note No. 164. Statue of the Good Shepherd (3rd cent.?); *1090. Early-Christian pulpit from Saloniki, with the Adoration of the Magi in detached figures; 189, 190. Fragments of a column with scenes with figures (Baptism of Christ, etc.; about 500); also interesting capitals with figures and foliage ornamentation.

Two rooms form an Architectural Museum (Asia Minor relics).

The FIRST FLOOR is occupied by the Babylonian-Assyrian antiquities (incl. the glazed terracotta sarcophagi from Nippur, and No. 1027. Votive relief of king Narâm-Sin, about 3750 B.C.), the unimportant Egyptian relics, and curiosities from Cyprus (p. 489), Himyar (region of Yemen in S. Arabia), and Palmyra. Then collections of bronzes and trinkets from Schliemann’s excavations at Hissarlik (p. 534), from the Sidonian sarcophagi (p. 546), etc.; vases and terracottas from Asia Minor (Hissarlik, Myrina, Priene), Cos (p. 490), and Rhodes; glass vessels from Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria, and Tripolitania; also a collection of coins.—The N. wing contains the _Museum Library_.

The elegant =Chinili Kiosque= (Pl. I, 6; ‘fayence palace’), one of the oldest Turkish buildings in the city, was erected in 1470 by _Kemal ed-Din_ under Mohammed II., in the Persian style, and was restored in 1590. In 1908 it was converted into an *_Oriental Art Museum_. Adm., see p. 539.

The two-storied portico (ticket-office on the left) contains tombstones, etc.—The vestibule, with its original inscribed frieze, is adorned with well-preserved green *Fayence Tiles.

The domed hall and five side-rooms contain Arabian, Persian, and Turkish fayence, Turkish pottery, seals (tugres), firmans, and irades of Turkish sultans, woodwork (koran-desks, cabinets, etc.), leather (beautiful book-bindings), and metal work; also cut gems, Arabian and Venetian glass, mosque-lamps, embroidery, and *Persian Carpets. The chief treasures of the collection are the *Prayer Niche from the palace of the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin at Konia (13th cent.) and a throne of Selim I. (p. 512).

Passing the Mint (p. 546) we next enter the outer court of the Seraglio. In the centre rises the huge _Janissaries’ Plane Tree_ (Pl. I, 6), where the janissaries (p. 550) used to meet.—To the left the _Orta Kapu_ leads to the _Seraglio Palace_ (adm., see p. 540). It contains the throne-room (Arsh Odasi) of the time of Suleiman the Great, the Library, the Imperial Treasury (hazneh han), and the superb Bagdad Kiosque (1639), etc.

Above the outer court rises, on the right, the =Church of Irene= (Pl. I, 6; dedicated to ‘divine peace’), a domed basilica built by Constantine, and restored first by Justinian after the Nika revolt (p. 541), and again in 740. After the Turkish conquest it was used as an arsenal, but is now a _Military Museum_ (adm., see p. 539).

We leave the Seraglio by the _Bab i Humayún_ (Pl. I, 6), the superb modern gate of the sultan, replacing that of Mohammed II.

In the SERAÏ MEÏDÁN (Pl. I, 6, 7; ‘Seraglio Square’), on the S.W. side of the palace-walls, rises the *_Fountain of Ahmed III._, erected in 1728, the finest sebíl in the city, with a well-preserved timber roof. Nearly opposite are the Aya Sophia and the _Ministry of Justice_ (Pl. H, 1, 7), which was the meeting-place of the new Turkish parliament in 1908–9.

The **=Aya Sóphia Mosque= (Pl. H, 7; adm., see p. 539), formerly the church of St. Sophia, 4 min. to the S. of the So-uk Cheshmeh Gate (p. 546), is the most famous edifice in the whole city. Here in 326, opposite to his palace, Constantine erected a basilica, which he dedicated to Divine Wisdom (Sophía), and which after a fire in 415 was rebuilt by Theodosius II. The church having again been destroyed during the Nika rebellion, Justinian caused the present sumptuous edifice, which was to eclipse all others in the empire, to be erected in 532–7 by _Anthemios_ of Tralleis and _Isidoros_ of Miletos.

The plan of the building is nearly square. Its axis, contrary to custom, runs to the E.S.E., in line with that of the palace. It measures 82½ by 77 yds., but if the atrium or forecourt had still existed the length would have been no less than 184 yds. The edifice with its nave and aisles presents a curious combination of an ancient Christian basilica with a dome-covered mosque. Above the nave, which is 36 yds. in breadth, the great dome, 105 ft. in diameter and 184 ft. in height, but externally inconspicuous, rises on four massive pillars. It is continued lengthwise by two half-domes, relieved by niches, the large E. central niche forming the apse. The upper story of the aisles, borne by antique columns with capitals resembling imposts, and the galleries above the inner vestibule contained the gynæceum, or women’s seats.

The Crusaders pillaged the church in 1204 (p. 542), and many of its treasures were carried off also at the Turkish conquest. The mosaics were whitewashed, the minaret at the S.E. angle was erected, and the unsightly flying buttresses were added on the E. side. To the further detriment of the general effect the successors of the conqueror built the other three minarets, the mausoleums, schools, and outbuildings. A thorough restoration was undertaken by _Fossati_, an Italian architect, in 1847, when the outside was painted yellow with red stripes.

The entrance for visitors is in the N. side-street, by a door to the left of the N.W. minaret. A few steps descend to the INNER VESTIBULE (eso-narthex), from which five doors open on the outer vestibule (exo-narthex) and nine portals lead into the interior. At the S. end of the inner vestibule, opposite the N. entrance, is a Byzantine *Bronze Door (9th cent.), with part of the original panels.

The northmost portal admits us to the *INTERIOR, in which the immense central dome, in contrast to St. Peter’s at Rome, dominates the entire nave. The marble pavement is partly destroyed and partly covered with carpets and mats spread obliquely in the direction of Mecca (S.E.). The mihrâb or prayer-recess has been placed, for the same reason, a little to the S. of the axis of the apse. Beside the pillars of the apse are, on the right, the mimbar, or Friday pulpit, and on the left the octagonal grated gallery of the sultan, resting on eight antique columns. The nave contains several open galleries or tribunes for prayer-recitals. The Koran niche in the S. aisle also is worth seeing. (Visitors should be careful not to touch anything.)

During the nights of Ramadan (p. 539) visitors are admitted only to the galleries, which the sacristan will show at other times.

On the S. side of the mosque, adjoining the Aya Sophia Meïdán, rise five TÜRBEHS, or burial-chapels of sultans. The southmost, once the baptistery of the church, dates perhaps from Justinian’s reign.

The AYA SÓPHIA MEÏDÁN (Pl. H, 7), a busy square planted with trees, on the S. side of the mosque, was the ancient _Augusteion_ (or Agorá), the greatest centre of traffic in New Rome, whence the triumphal road led to the Golden Gate (p. 554). Down to the Turkish conquest it was adorned with a mounted statue of Justinian. Adjoining it on the S.W. lies the AT MEÏDÁN (Pl. H, 7; ‘horse square’), 330 yds. long, partly occupying the site of a _Hippodrome_ begun by Sept. Severus (p. 541) and completed by Constantine. From these two squares, and from the Seraï Meïdán (p. 548), the Roman and Byzantine imperial palaces, with their dependencies and several churches, extended to the S.E. to the town-wall on the Sea of Marmora.

At the N. angle of At Meïdán, where Rue Divan Yolou (p. 550) diverges, lies a small _Public Garden_. Farther on, to the S.W., passing a _Street Fountain_ presented by Emp. William II. in 1898, we come to three ancient monuments which still occupy their old places on the spina of the Hippodrome (comp. p. 348). One is the _Obelisk of Theodosius I._, dating from the time of Thutmosis III. (p. 456; brought from Heliopolis), with Roman reliefs, on the pedestal, of the imperial family viewing the races from the court-stand of the Hippodrome. The second is the bronze *_Snake Column_, once the central support of a huge tripod which the Greeks erected as a votive offering at Delphi after the victory of Platæa (p. 506). The third is the so-called _Colossus_, an obelisk of unknown origin.

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).