[URBAN BEAT] Exploring Topkapı Square

The Surp Nigoğayos Church sits beneath the city walls and is entered through the well-shaded tea garden that lies at the northwest corner of Topkapı Square. First built between 1626 and 1630, the church was restored in 1813 and 1823 and completely rebuilt in 1831. During World War I, the building was used for military purposes, which caused extensive damage. The church was restored in 1927 and again in 1983.

According to the caretaker at Surp Nigoğayos, Armenians invited to settle in İstanbul by Mehmet the Conqueror chose to dedicate their church to Saint Nicholas because he is the patron saint of travelers. Another Armenian church dedicated to St. Nicholas is located in Beykoz, notes the priest, Father Minas. He also says that very few church members remain in the Topkapı neighborhood, but families from Bakırköy, Yeşilköy, Feriköy and Şişli attend Sunday services regularly.

Slightly downhill from Surp Nigoğayos is the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, which can be entered from Karatay Street. According to the caretaker, a small number of people come to the church on the Feast Day of St. Nicholas, but otherwise the church stands empty. The interior is beautifully restored, the light blue vaulted ceiling recalling the hull of a ship. A model ship made by a previous caretaker hangs as a reminder that St. Nicholas was a sailor.

The fountain on the west end of the church is dedicated to St. George. According to Zafer Karaca’s catalog of İstanbul’s Greek Orthodox churches (“İstanbul’da Tanzimat Öncesi Rum Ortodoks Kiliseleri,” Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2008, with high-quality black-and-white photographs), this church appears in late 16th century sources as being dedicated to St. George. Following a fire it was rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century and dedicated to St. Nicholas. It was rebuilt again in 1831.

At the northeast corner of Topkapı Square stands one of its oldest buildings: the Mosque of Kara Ahmed. Ahmed Paşa, who served as Süleyman’s Grand Vizier, was executed in 1555. His türbe (mausoleum) was built three to four years after his death, but construction of his mosque was delayed until Rüstem Paşa gave his approval. Designed by Sinan, the mosque and medrese (school) complex is built around a central courtyard, a design which can also be seen at the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque at Edirnekapı and the Sokollu Mehmet Paşa Mosque in Kadırga. The tomb of Ahmed Paşa’s wife Fatma Sultan, the daughter of Selim I, is also located here.

On the far end of Topkapı City Park (outside the city walls), the Takkeci İbrahim Mosque sits above the E-5 highway. This small mosque with a wooden roof was built in 1591. According to the imam, people lived in the mosque during World War I and smoke from their stoves obscured the decoration on the ceiling. Recent restoration work has preserved the original colors. The high-quality İznik tiles are particularly distinctive in their use of a grape motif, which is common in Greek, Roman and Byzantine art but rare in Islamic art. The imam explained the grape motif with the following story.

Takkeci İbrahim, despite his modest income as a maker of skull caps, was determined to endow a mosque. In a dream he saw two bunches of grapes hanging in Baghdad. He went to Baghdad and happened upon a café where he recognized the grapes he had seen in his dream. He started eating them, but the owner of the café said, “Why are you eating my grapes?” İbrahim recounted his story, to which the café owner replied, “Don’t be silly, in my dreams I’ve seen two coffers of gold in İstanbul but would never go in search of them.” Coaxing details of the dream from his host, İbrahim now understood where to find the endowment for his mosque and returned quickly to İstanbul.

One of İstanbul’s newest museums, the İstanbul 1453 Panoramic Museum, lies a short walk from the Takkeci İbrahim Mosque and deserves a visit before re-entering the walls to visit the Bâlâ Külliyesi (complex). The Bâlâ Külliyesi, located about one-and-a-half kilometers south of Topkapı, is one of the most fascinating historic sites along the old city walls. The first mosque here was a small structure with a wooden roof, built between 1453 and 1457 for Bâlâ Süleyman, one of Mehmet the Conqueror’s artillery captains. By the early 19th century, the mosque had become the seat of a Rifa’î sufi sheikh.

Over the centuries, the original mosque deteriorated, and in 1862-63, Sazkâr Kalfa, a member of Mahmud II’s harem, had a larger complex built here as a Naqshibendi lodge with a prayer room and separate residential quarters for men and women as well as a kitchen, cistern, etc. In 1863-64, Abdülmecid’s fourth wife, Kerestu Kadınefendi, added a school -- the Bâlâ Mektebi -- and in 1891-1892, she had a fountain built in memory of her father. The remaining prayer room and türbe lie at the northeast corner where Bâlâ Tekkesi Street meets Tekke Maslağı Street. The selamlık, or men’s quarters, located across Bâlâ Tekkesi Street, was converted to an elementary school after the closing of sufi lodges in 1925. A visit to the prayer room offers a glimpse of the atmosphere of a remote sufi lodge in the final decades of the Ottoman Empire.

A little farther south, at Silivrikapı, the İbrahim Paşa Mosque is initially appealing for the gray dome that rises amidst the surrounding pine, cypress, poplar and plane trees. Built by İbrahim Paşa, one of Süleyman’s ministers, in 1551, the mosque was designed by Sinan. The interior is a relatively small square topped by a single dome. There are no semi-domes, no alcoves or galleys set off by columns as in the Kara Ahmed Mosque. The simplicity and remoteness of this mosque are refreshing.