Zeynep Sultan Mosque

The Zeynep Sultan Mosque (in Turkish Zeynep Sultan Camii) is a mosque built in 1769 by Ayazma Mosque's architect Mehmet Tahir Ağa for Ahmed III's daughter Zeynep Asıme Sultan. It evokes Byzantine churches because of its architectural style and materials that were used in its construction.

The mosque is on Alemdar Caddesi (Street) in Istanbul, across the street from Gülhane Park and viewable from the tram that circulates the city. In the back side of the mosque there is a building which was once used as "mektep" and now being used as primary school. The part once used as sebil [sebil: free water fountain adjacent to a mosque] is now closed. In front of the mosque there is a fountain which was actually part of Abd-al-Hamid I's külliye [külliye: complex of buildings adjacent to a mosque] . Fountain was carried here in 1920s when 4. Vakıf Han's construction in Eminönü. Osmanlı Araştırmaları Vakfı is above the Mosque.

Ottoman military hero Alemdar Mustafa Pasha's grave is in hazîre [hazîre: Grave part bordered with railings in places like mosque, tomb, dervish lodge etc.] of the mosque and due to road construction Zeynep Sultan's corpse in the cellar is waiting for the time of her new tomb's construction. The grave of Melek Mehmet Pasha, who was Selim III's Grand Vizier and Zeynep Sultan's husband, is also in the hazîre of the mosque.

See also

* Ottoman architecture

Notes

External links

* [http://www.turizm.net/cities/istanbul/ottoman.html Travel web site listing mosques in Istanbul]