Sultanahmet Attractions

In the Depth of History

One of Istanbul’s magnificent historical constructions is the Basilica Cistern located on the south-west of Hagia Sophia. Built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. Justinian (527-565), this large underground cistern was named as the “Yerebatan Palace” among the public due to the marble columns that rose from the water and counted as countless. When there is a Basilica in the place where the cistern is located, it is also known as Basilica Cistern.

The cistern is a gigantic structure that covers a rectangular area of ??140 meters in length and 70 meters in width. There are 336 columns, each 9 meters high, in this cistern, which is laid with a 52-step stone ladder. These columns, erected at intervals of 4.80 meters, bring 12 rows of columns, each containing 28 columns. The ceiling space of the cistern was transferred to the pillars via arches. It is understood that the majority of the columns are collected from the older structures and the majority of the marble columns are made up of one piece and the other two pieces. The titles of these columns, in places, have different properties. While 98 of them reflect the Corint style, part of it reflects Dor style. The walls of the cistern, brick 4.80 meters thick, and the brick paved floor were plastered with a thick layer of Khorasan, making it waterproof. Covering a total area of ??9.800 m2, this cistern has a water storage capacity of approximately 100.000 tons.

Medusa Başı

Sarnıçtaki sütunların köşeli veya yivli biçimde olan birkaç tanesi hariç büyük bir çoğunluğu silindir biçimindedir. Sarnıcın kuzeybatı köşesindeki iki sütunun altında kaide olarak kullanılan iki Medusa Başı, Roma Dönemi heykel sanatının şaheserlerindendir. Sarnıcı ziyaret eden insanların en çok ilgisini çeken Medusa başlarının hangi yapılardan alınıp buraya getirildiği bilinmemektedir. Araştırmacılar, genellikle sarnıcın inşası sırasında salt sütun kaidesi olarak kullanılması amacıyla getirildiklerini düşünmektedirler. Bu görüşe rağmen, Medusa Başı hakkında birtakım efsaneler oluşmuştur.

Bir efsaneye göre Medusa, Yunan mitolojisinde yeraltı dünyasının dişi canavarı olan üç Gorgona’ dan biridir. Bu üç kız kardeşten yılan başlı Medusa, kendisine bakanları taşa çevirme gücüne sahiptir. Bir görüşe göre o dönemde büyük yapılar ve özel yerleri korumak için Gogona desim ve heykelleri kullanılırdı ve Sarnıca Medusa başının konulması da bu yüzdendir.

Başka bir rivayete göre de Medusa, siyah gözleri, uzun saçları ve güzel vücudu ile övünen bir kızdı. Medusa, Zeus’ un oğlu Perseus’u seviyordu. Bu arada Athena da Perseus’u seviyor ve Medusa’yı kıskanıyordu. Bu yüzden Athena, Medusa’nın saçlarını yılana çevirdi. Artık Medusa’nın baktığı herkes, taşa dönüşüyordu. Daha sonra Perseus, Medusa’nın başını kesti ve onun bu gücünden yararlanarak pek çok düşmanını yendi.

Buna dayanarak Medusa Başı, Bizans’da kılıç kabzalarına işlenmiş ve sütun kaidelerine (bakanların taş kesilmemesi için) ters olarak yerleştirilmiştir. Bir rivayete göre de Medusa, yana bakıp kendisini taşa çevirmiştir. Bu yüzden buradaki heykeli yapan heykeltıraş, ışığın yansıma açılarına göre Medusa’ yı üç ayrı konumda yapmıştır.

Sarnıcın ortasına doğru kuzeydoğu duvarı önünde yer alan 8 sütun, 1955-1960 yıllarında yapılan bir inşaat sırasında kırılma tehlikesine maruz kaldıklarından, bunların her biri, kalın bir beton tabaka içine alınarak dondurulmuş ve bu yüzden eski özelliklerini kaybetmişlerdir.

Bizans döneminde bu çevrede geniş bir sahayı kaplayan ve imparatorların ikamet ettiği büyük sarayın ve bölgedeki diğer sakinlerin su ihtiyacını karşılayan Yerebatan Sarnıcı, İstanbul’un Osmanlılar tarafından 1453 yılında fethinden sonra bir müddet daha kullanılmış ve padişahların oturduğu Topkapı Sarayı’nın bahçelerine buradan su verilmiştir.

İslâmî kaidelerin temizlik esasları gereği durgun su yerine akar vaziyetteki suyu tercih eden Osmanlılar’ın şehirde kendi su tesislerini kurduktan sonra kullanmadıkları anlaşılan Sarnıç, 16. yüzyılın ortalarına gelinceye kadar Batılılar tarafından fark edilmemiş, nihayet 1544-1550 yıllarında Bizans kalıntılarını araştırmak üzere İstanbul’a gelen Hollandalı gezgin P. Gyllius tarafından yeniden keşfedilerek Batı âlemine tanıtılmıştır. P. Gyllius, araştırmalarından birinde, Ayasofya civarında dolaşırken, buradaki evlerin zemin katlarında bulunan kuyu benzeri yuvarlak büyük deliklerden ev halkının aşağıya sarkıttıkları kovalarla su çektikleri, hatta balık tuttuklarını öğrendi. Büyük bir yeraltı sarnıcının üzerinde bulunan ahşap bir binanın duvarlarla çevrili avlusundan, yerin altına inen taş basamaklardan elinde bir meşaleyle sarnıcın içerisine girdi. P. Gyllius, çok zor şartlarda sarnıcı sandalla dolaşarak ölçülerini alıp sütunlarını tespit etti. Gördüklerini ve edindiği bilgileri seyahatnamesinde yayımlanan Gyllius, birçok seyyahı etkilemiştir.

Sarnıç, kurulduğundan günümüze kadar çeşitli onarımlardan geçmiştir. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Dönemi’nde iki defa onarılan sarnıcın ilk onarımı 3. Ahmet zamanında (1723) Mimar Kayserili Mehmet Ağa tarafından yaptırılmıştır. İkinci onarım ise Sultan 2. Abdülhamid (1876-1909) zamanında gerçekleştirilmiştir. Cumhuriyet Dönemi’nde de sarnıç, 1987’de İstanbul Belediyesi tarafından temizlenerek ve bir gezi platformu yapılmak suretiyle ziyarete açılmıştır. 1994 yılının Mayıs ayında yeniden büyük bir temizlik ve bakımdan geçmiştir.

İstanbul gezi programlarının ayrılmaz bir parçası olan bu gizemli mekânı, bugüne kadar ABD eski Başkanı Bill Clinton’dan Hollanda Başbakanı Wim Kok’a, İtalyan eski Dışişleri Bakanı Lamberto Dini’den İsveç eski Başbakanı Göran Persson’a ve Avusturya eski Başbakanı Thomas Klestil’e kadar birçok kişi ziyaret etti.

Hâlihazırda İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi iştiraklerinden Kültür A.Ş. tarafından işletilen Yerebatan Sarnıcı, müze olmanın yanı sıra, ulusal ve uluslararası birçok etkinliğe ev sahipliği etmektedir.

Topkapi Palace is one of the most established palaces of Saraydar and the Ottoman Empire built as a residence by Fatih Sultan Mehmet between 1459 and 1465.

The palace was built not as a single building, but as four large courtyards and pavilions, reflecting the nomadic and tent culture of the Ottoman Empire. The palace is important not only for its use as a center for 4 centuries but also for hosting the Enderun Mektebi, a military and civil servant. The palace was evacuated in the 18th century when the palace family moved to Dolmabahçe Palace. In 1924 it was converted into a museum and opened in the open.

Departments of Topkapi Palace

This magnificent palace consists of six sections. These sections are Bab-ı Hümayun, Divan Square, Alay Square, Enderun Courtyard, Sofa-i Humayun, Harem. Each has its own characteristic structure and function.

The Divan-ı Humayun section, where the sultan and the viziers followed the meeting, the Iftariye Camii with the view of the Golden Horn, the Baghdad Pavilion built in honor of the conquest of Baghdad in 1639, Ahmet Library, the chamber of treasury.

The Topkapi Palace collection contains many unique and valuable ceramics, glass, silver, weapons, armor, miniatures, manuscripts, clothes, watches and sacred relics. The harem is seen as the most interesting part of the Topkapi Palace. The sultan of the sultan also draws attention to the harem, the architecture and the artifacts that can be seen in the place where the children live. Here, Valide Sultan Chamber where the mother of the sultan lives, Double Crescent decorated with Iznik tiles, dating from the 18th century III. Ahmet’s dining room, the Chamber of Saltanat and the Harem Ağaları Taşlığı where the entertainments are organized.

Topkapi Palace which is one of the first places that comes to mind when it refers to places to visit in Istanbul, is visited by visitors in the month of Ramadan especially because of the hosting of hırka-i sherif and some other sacred relics.

Topkapı Palace Visiting Information

Address: Topkapı Palace Museum 34200 Istanbul
Transportation: The palace is near the Blue Mosque. You can reach from Sultanahmet stop by Metro, from Marmaray and Sirkeci stop, by tram and from Sultanahmet or Gülhane stops by here.
Visiting Days and Hours: The museum is open on Tuesdays on a daily basis. It can be visited from October 26 to April 15 from 09:00 to 16:45, from April 15 to October 26 from 09:00 to 18:45.
Entry Fees: Museum entrance ticket is 30 Lira
Notes: Entrance fees and visit times may vary periodically. Please check the website for updated information.

Istanbul Walls are city walls built around Byzantine time around Istanbul. The city walls around Istanbul were built in the 7th century, and they were destroyed and rebuilt four times.
It’s after the final construction of MS 408. II. During the time of Theodosius (408-450), the city walls of Istanbul stretched along the Golden Horn coast from Ayvansaray on this side, along the Marmara coast to Yedikule, from Yedikule to Topkapi, and from Topkapi to Ayvansaray.

History

The Emperor in the Making II. Theodosius Praefaectus was started by Anthemios in 413. The only force that can cross the walls of Istanbul II. Mehmet is the leader of the leadership. Praefactus Konstantinus Kyros had a second wall in front of the Sura at a time when the Huns of Atilla threatened the city.

The towers of number 96 were constructed differently. 74 of them are square, one is pentagon, 5 is hexagon, 2 is seventh, and 14 is eight. The tops of the towers are covered with vaulted floors. As it is also in the Iznik walls, the walls of these upstairs rooms feature previously painted Aziz paintings in fresco technique. The length of the towers is not the same everywhere. A few meters of difference can be seen from Marmara to Tekfur Palace.

There are many gates opening out on the land side walls. Some of these were gates of people entering and leaving and they were closed in danger. In the second period, there were some important military gates. The most important of these doors is the Golden or Gilded Gate which was also used as the beginning of the Victory Road.

The bastion, the wall, and the inscriptions on the doors write the history of the wall.

It is the fortified walls surrounding the greatest cause of Istanbul being a legendary city that can not be conquered for a long time. There was no such a solid defense system anywhere else at the time. Even though it was inaccessible in terms of length, the Chinese Great Wall could not approach the walls of Istanbul for defense.

6492 m on the land The 820 m long walls on the shores of Marmara and Golden Horn are composed of several stages. At the forefront, Byzantine defended mobile forces, with 20 m wide and 7.5 m deep ditches filled with water. Behind them were defensive troops waiting for the spearmen. If the defenses were passed, they reached the fortified walls of 5-7 m high. The Ottoman Army had lost a lot in front of the central city walls. At the rear, the main walls were 12-13 m high. The soldiers waiting on the main city walls would not allow any creature to approach the city wall.
The length of the walls is 22 km. The Golden Horn walls are 5.5 km, the land walls 7.5 km. Marmara Walls are 9 km.

The land walls consist of three parts. Ditch, outer wall, inner wall. The ditches have become agricultural land today. Adjacent and 50 m. On the side of the land walls, there are 96 bastions, many of which have been demolished and cracked. These signs are located on a 10 m ledge from the walls extending from the wall, mostly square and 25 m. In height.

There are windows, vaults, doors. There are doors and stairs between inner walls and outer walls. Inside walls and bastions were used stone and bricks. The outside walls are the entrance to the chest. On the outer walls there are small signs to come between the smaller and larger signs. All these ditches, bastions, outer and inner walls have a total width of 70 m. The walls have corrugations and small cavities.

There is a moat and an outer wall before the Marmara and Halic walls. These walls are 5 m in height and 15 m in height. The signs are 20 meters long, 103 on the Marmara side and 94 on the Golden Horn. The Suburban Train is working along the Marmara side walls.

Some of them have historical fame: Yedikule, Sulukule, Anemas, Isaakios, Mermerkule, Arapkule. Most of them were used as dungeons, prisons, mints.

DOORS

There are main buildings and yankapis along the walls of Istanbul. The doors are 5 m. It is under a wide belt. The gates outside the Topkapi and Edirnekapi, which are crossed by the main roads, are as tall as two cars can not pass by side by side.

These doors had marble-clad interiors, wooden doors. The stairs built to climb onto the wall are on the inside of the doors on the right and on the left. In the spaces inside the door walls, there were demirkapi or bars used to close the main house. In addition, some of the motherboards had an outer door. Many of them have disappeared in history. There are inscriptions on some of the gates, but they are from the Ottomans. 25 meters from the outer door to the inner door.

Starting from the Topkapı Palace gate, to the Golden Horn, from here to Yedikule and back to the Topkapı Palace, the doors of the walls are like this:

– Topkapisarayı kapısı
– Ahırkapı
– Fenerity
– Kucukayasofyakapısı
– Bukalonkapı
– Fishhook
– Odunapapısı
– Manganakapısı
– Gulhanekapısı
– Kadırgakapısı
– Cracked
– Kumkapi
– Yenikapi
– Samatyakapısı
– Narcissus
– Yedikulekapi
– BelgradKapi
– Silivrikapi
– Relocation
– Topcap
– Edirnekapı
– Egriakapi
– Ayvansaray kapısısı
– Atikmustafakapısı
– Balatpa
– Fenerkapısı
– NewYakapi
– Footwear
– Cibalikapısı
– Unkapanapısı
– Ayazmakapısı
– Odunapapısı
– Fish marketplace
– Yenicamikapısı
– Garden door
– Hunters
– Idiot doctor
– Zindankapısı
– Sirkecikapi
– Yaliskaki

There are 50 doors and 300 bastions on the walls of Istanbul and some are missing. There were also gates to the fortifications on the outer city Galata side: Kurşunlumahzen, Karaköy, Balıkpazarı, Yağkapanı, Kürkçükapı, Azapkapı.

SULTAN AHMET MOSQUE

SUMMARY

One of the most important works of the 17th century, the Blue Mosque is a masterpiece built within the architectural sense of Mimar Sinan. After Sinan, architect Sedefkâr Mehmet Aga, who handled the legacy of Turkish architecture, rose in his hands.

As it is known, the Sultan Ihmet I was a 14th-year-old Sultan at the age of 14 when he was 14th in Ottoman rule (1603) and died in 1617 at the age of 28 after 14 years of reign.

It is allied with all sources that Sultan Ihmet was a religious sultan. XVII. When it came to the beginning of the century, the main hills of Istanbul were kept with mosques and complexes, each bearing the name of a sultan. Sultan Ahmet, however, puts the idea of ??raising a beauty that has never been seen before in the throne city, as a thank you document at the expense of paying great expense money and destroying many famous queen and pasha palaces. The head motif and passion make it the greatest and most beautiful of the glasses that have been made up to that time to prove the hand.

Architect Mehmet Ağa goes to the chief architecture after being included in the department of architecture and the mother of the palace in 1569-1570.

The Ayse Sultan palace in the direction of the kibble of the horse plaza (hippodrome) looked out to the sea, the area was very wide and it was close to the Topkapi palace, and the surroundings were not much built up. This place was seen by the Sultan. Ayse Sultana, who was named, sent thirty thousand golden calibres of gold, and he handed over his possessions to the court immediately with hearted pleasure.

The 9th of the 1018 year recep’s moon. (Today’s calendar is 1609 years, the month is about the beginning of October) The first excavation in the templar, Sultan Ahmet Han himself shot. This excavation is in Topkapı Palace museum today. When the foundation digging started, the Sultan Ahmet Khan had first prayed that he would carry the soil with his skirt and serve the Lord Ahmad’s servant. The completion of the mosque is on June 9, 1617, with the current calendar of the 4th day of the 1026-year-old Friday Del-ahiresi moon. Thus, construction lasted 7 years 5 months 6 days.

It is the central structure of the mosque consisting of a Mosque, Medrese, Daru-l Kurra, Muvakkithane, Sıbyan Mektebi, Arasta, Hamam, İmaret, Darü’ş-heifa and Türbe. The area of ??worship, which is bounded by the walls of the mosque, is a square rectangularly shaped. 53.50×49.47 (2.646 m2) square meters. The inside of the Sultanahmet mosque has a four-leaf clover plan. Four elephant feet are very effective.

The main dome is 43 meters high and 23.5 meters in diameter. This measure shows Mehmet Ağan’s ability as an engineer. The inside of the glass is surrounded by 260 windows that are placed in a very spacious space. Due to the way the windows are placed, the large dome looks like it hangs in the air.

As is known, westerners say “Blue Mosque” in the sense of this blue mosque. This mosque is as bright and spacious as any of its peers. In the three rows of walls, blue, which is the dominant color in the tiles and pencil ornamentations that cover the walls of the glass, which receives light from countless windows opened on the pulleys of the half, center and corner domes, caused this name to be given.

In the Sultanahmet Mosque, Iznik and Kütahya workshops used 21043 pieces of tiles to be purchased as 16th-18th akçeye each as the end of the 16th and 17th centuries. The selviler, lilies, hyacinths, narchizekleri, greeks, grape clusters in the panel which is brought to the white ground with various colors on the white ground is the entity providing the beauty in the Sultanahmet Mosque and being the only source of Turkish tile. Sultanahmet Mosque has more than 50 different tiles.

Sultanahmet Caminin mihrabı, minberi, mahkali mahfeli are separate works of art. The mihrabi, covered with motifs of china filled with flowers, is decorated with columns with cypress motifs made of marble. The pulpit is gilded with geometric inserts and reliefs. It is a masterpiece with a pearl inlaid gate and a fine wall work of golden gilded tiles.

First, in this mosque, a mansion has been added to the mosque for the first time in the mosque, for the first time in the mosque, for the sultan’s prayer, and for the sultan’s rest before and after the prayer. This pavilion, which was adopted by many sultan cami by adopting the later ones, was built on the front edge of the glass or at the bezels that can easily pass through the mosque inside the mosque.

Caminin marble-floored inner courtyard is surrounded by 30 dome-covered porches sited on 26 columns. In the middle of the courtyard is a six-column fountain.

It is the only glass with six minarets. Four of the minarets are two in honor of two. A minaret was added to the Mecca mosque in order to preserve its glory because the six minaret mosque was only the Mecca Mosque before the construction of this mosque.

The Sultanahmet Mosque is a great mabed that is magnificently magnified, gracefully magnificent, faithful and sincere. Shortly after the completion of his humble and devout mosque, the complex is lying on the turban, built on the northeastern side of the outer courtyard of the glass, before the completion of the complex.
SULTAN AHMET MOSQUE

GENERAL

These were the first questions and words that spilled from the mouth of the writer and poet Cafer Çelebin who had followed the construction step by step as a close relative of the architect when the mosque was finished and the doors opened to the world.

‘What is this bright light? And what is this beautiful style?

After all, from the four corners of the earth and from all religions of the world who came to visit with believers who run for centuries, from Beyazıt, to those who admired the subtle and highly refined lineage that this building brought to the skyline of Istanbul upon arrival from the sea, The feelings that they have fallen into and fallen into the main space from one of the gates, and this time their admiration turns into astonishment. When people first look at their surroundings, their minds glow through the giant columns, each one of them springing up to the fancy walls and then to the arches and half-domes, which are stacked on top of one another, and to a dome that is not much more imposing on them all, With emotions and fresh, fresh, colorful, colored with a whole new world. This is a camel of Sultanahmet rising in the middle of old Istanbul, or rather on the edge of the historical half island facing the sea. Blue mosque with a place name given by strangers.

Thin taste and a new mosque concept conveyed to the art of Istanbul by his hands. It is a period and a style where Turkish-Islamic architecture has opened its wings to the back. The tale of the tulip commuter which will be a full century after itself, the premonitioner of both the majestic and adorable, the full temple, the creepy but vast garden for the person, the interior warming, the interior warming, the ornamented as an oriental palace; Hele is decorated with a world of patterns in which all the shades of a refined paint are scattered, which we can not decide together, in a rich history, with gold chains hanging with solid emerald lamps, the two worlds meeting this handed glass. The flat walls are covered with tiles and the surfaces rotating and twisting on them are embroidered with a pen. Eventually a brilliant space emerged. It is a strange feeling to visit the man, on the one hand, the imposing pillars, especially the dome on the hill, telling the whole innocence of a mabed with the idea of ??an eternal god, and the immortality of being alone with the power of creating the truth. Everyday life is out, hele is a totally different environment in which modern life and today’s city where the silence of the human being contradicts the creativity, and where the quietness of the traffic joys and the tranquility of the traffic jam. The person is nearly stripped naked and confronted with a creepy loneliness as if he had reached a man of his own. Because everything is so majestic, so great for man, it is so quiet, but it is thought-provoking and inviting beyond its intelligent and cognitive physiology. Your family business is your problem Your enthusiasm is your love and you do not like your money and your property is so far away from you so far that even the crowds that are walking around will be lost in this place, but as soon as the first minutes of filling in the churrtiler are working, It starts to warm up. If you sit at the same place to pray for the prayer and begin to watch the surroundings with a more full and full feeling, this mabe is for the kemaline erysini to delight in all the sweetness given to this martial, this time with all the joy of a human life again beauty measures and value judgments And it starts to flood. How the windows of these windows that surround the real inner horizon are woven with the burning colors and how the Chinese embracing the walls are embellished like a spring garden of this world with embroidered embroideries climbing up to these domes are so painted with enthusiasm in the embellishment And sprinkled. Cloud cloud rosette rosette on the walls until this, the Ottomans love the lilies, the hyacinths can not be found in a temple painted lepidoptera and cloaks. In this vital place, both the worship, the glory, the closeness, the side by side, it is deep inside of the blue master’s master architect.