Pronounced as “sool-tahn-ah-met”, sultanahmet name comes from the Sultan Ahmet I. who lived 1590-1617. Sultan Ahmet I. is also builder of the Blue Mosque so this mosque is also called Sultanahmet Mosque.

The Sultanahmet district is the heart of historic Old City Istanbul, what 19th century travelers used to call “Stamboul” or “Estambool”

This is the place where you will find Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia), the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii), the Byzantine Hippodrome, Yerebatan Sarnıcı (Basilica Cistern), Binbirdirek Cistern, the Istanbul Archeological Museums, Great Palace Mosaic Museum, and several lesser sights.

Luckily for visitors, the district of Sultanahmet also has a number of serviceable restaurants and dozens of good hotels in all price ranges. Levni Hotel is one of the best of Sultanahmet Hotels in service quality and in many other aspects.

Biography

Ahmed I’s mother was Valide Sultan Handan Sultan, an ethnic Greek who was originally named Helena. He was born at Manisa Palace. He succeeded his father Mehmed III (1595–1603) in 1603 at age 13. He broke with the traditional fratricide and sent his brother Mustafa to live at the old palace at Bayezit along with their grandmother Safiye Sultan. He was known for his skills in fencing, poetry, horseback riding, and fluency in numerous languages.

He was married twice, to Valide Sultan Mahfiruze Hatice Sultan, originally named Maria, a Greek, mother of Osman II, and to Valide Sultan Kadinefendi Kösem Sultan or Mahpeyker, originally named Anastasia, a Greek, mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I. He also had two sons named Bayezid and Suleiman.

A half-brother of Ahmed, Jahja, resented his accession to the Ottoman throne in 1603, and spent his life scheming to become Sultan.

In the earlier part of his reign Ahmed I showed decision and vigor, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavourably for the empire, and its prestige received its first check in the Treaty of Zsitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished. Georgia and Azerbaijan were ceded to Persia by the treaty of Nasuh Pasha in 1612.

Ahmed was a poet who wrote a number of political and lyrical works under the name Bahti. But while supportive of poetry, he displayed an aversion to artistry and continued his father’s neglect of miniature painting[1]. This was connected to a devout religiosity that declared depiction of living things in art an immoral rivalry to Allah’s creation[2]. Accordingly, Ahmed spent his wealth instead on supporting the works of scholars, calligraphers and pious men. Hence he commissioned a book entitled The Quintessence of Histories to be worked upon by calligraphers, but forbade its illustration by the by-now largely dissolved Society of Miniaturists[1]. He also attempted to enforce conformance to Islamic laws and traditions, restoring the old regulations that prohibited alcohol and he attempted to enforce attendance at the Friday Mosque prayers and paying alms to the poor in the proper way.

He was responsible for the destruction of the musical clock organ that Elizabeth I of England sent to the court during the reign of his father[3]. The reason for this may have been Ahmed’s religious objection to figurative art or the fact that the complex organ served as a daily reminder of the waxing influence and power of the West.

Ahmed I died of typhus in 1617.

Legacy

Today Ahmed I is remembered mainly for the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture. The area in Istanbul around the Mosque is today called Sultanahmet. He died at Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and is buried in a mausoleum right outside the walls of the famous mosque.

Biography

Ahmed I’s mother was Valide Sultan Handan Sultan, an ethnic Greek who was originally named Helena. He was born at Manisa Palace. He succeeded his father Mehmed III (1595–1603) in 1603 at age 13. He broke with the traditional fratricide and sent his brother Mustafa to live at the old palace at Bayezit along with their grandmother Safiye Sultan. He was known for his skills in fencing, poetry, horseback riding, and fluency in numerous languages.

He was married twice, to Valide Sultan Mahfiruze Hatice Sultan, originally named Maria, a Greek, mother of Osman II, and to Valide Sultan Kadinefendi Kösem Sultan or Mahpeyker, originally named Anastasia, a Greek, mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I. He also had two sons named Bayezid and Suleiman.

A half-brother of Ahmed, Jahja, resented his accession to the Ottoman throne in 1603, and spent his life scheming to become Sultan.

In the earlier part of his reign Ahmed I showed decision and vigor, which were belied by his subsequent conduct. The wars which attended his accession both in Hungary and in Persia terminated unfavourably for the empire, and its prestige received its first check in the Treaty of Zsitvatorok, signed in 1606, whereby the annual tribute paid by Austria was abolished. Georgia and Azerbaijan were ceded to Persia by the treaty of Nasuh Pasha in 1612.

Ahmed was a poet who wrote a number of political and lyrical works under the name Bahti. But while supportive of poetry, he displayed an aversion to artistry and continued his father’s neglect of miniature painting^[1]. This was connected to a devout religiosity that declared depiction of living things in art an immoral rivalry to Allah‘s creation^[2]. Accordingly, Ahmed spent his wealth instead on supporting the works of scholars, calligraphers and pious men. Hence he commissioned a book entitled The Quintessence of Histories to be worked upon by calligraphers, but forbade its illustration by the by-now largely dissolved Society of Miniaturists^[1]. He also attempted to enforce conformance to Islamic laws and traditions, restoring the old regulations that prohibited alcohol and he attempted to enforce attendance at the Friday Mosque prayers and paying alms to the poor in the proper way.

He was responsible for the destruction of the musical clock organ that Elizabeth I of England sent to the court during the reign of his father^[3]. The reason for this may have been Ahmed’s religious objection to figurative art or the fact that the complex organ served as a daily reminder of the waxing influence and power of the West.

Ahmed I died of typhus in 1617.

[edit] Legacy

Bilingual Franco-Turkish translation of the 1604 Franco-Ottoman Capitulations between Sultan Ahmed I and Henry IV of France, published by François Savary de Brèves in 1615.^[4]

Today Ahmed I is remembered mainly for the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture. The area in Istanbul around the Mosque is today called Sultanahmet. He died at Topkapı Palace in Istanbul and is buried in a mausoleum right outside the walls of the famous mosque.

One of istanbuls best loved attractions is also one of its most curious. Across the road from Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia or Saint Sophia), the Yerebatan Sarnici also known as the Basilica Cistern, is extraordinarily romantic, not least because of its atmospheric music and lighting. For many visitors, though, it is something of a mystery. What on earth was this structure with its 336 columns lined up in rows, their bases sitting in water? Well, it was a giant holding tank for water that had been piped in from outside the city walls. This particular cistern continued in use into Ottoman times. When full it would have been able to hold some 80 million liters of water.

For most visitors just gazing over the eerie vista of the columns is pleasure enough, but within the Yerebatan Sarnici there are also some specific sights including a pair of columns decorated with what look like the eyes in a peacock’s tail and two column bases adorned with giant heads, one of them said to depict the gorgon Medusa. The fact that one head is upside down and the other on its side suggests they were seen as just so much reusable rubble to the builders.

Yerebatan is the most famous of istanbuls cisterns, but it’s far from the only one. if the crowds waiting to get in are off-putting you may be pleased to learn that you need only stroll up Divan Yolu (the road with the tram running down the middle) and turn off on the left to discover the Binbirdirek Sarnici. Despite its name (1001 Columns Cistern), this cistern turns out to have a measly 224 columns. Recently, another cistern just behind what used to be the old Sultanahmet Belediyesi (Municipality) building, near the Pierre Loti Hotel, the Serefiye Sarnici, has also been stripped off its accumulated rubbish so that visitors can admire it.

Caught the cistern bug? Then you may also want to seek out the pretty little cistern underneath the Nakkas carpet shop in Nakilbent Sokak in Sultanahmet and the much bigger Sultan Sarnici (now a restaurant) near the Sultan Selim Cami in Çarsamba. Slight remains of another cistern can also be seen inside the Rezan Has Muzesi (museum) in Cibali on the Golden Horn.

Open-air cisterns

Unlike the covered cisterns, the city’s four open-air cisterns go virtually unsung even though in their heyday they would have been more immediately obvious. One of the most prominent of these mini reservoirs can be found right beside Fevzi Pasa Caddesi in Fatih where it houses the Vefa football stadium. Another, known to the locals as Çukur Bostan (Sunken Garden), is immediately in front of the Sultan Selim Cami and once housed an entire suburb that features as the backdrop in Jenny White’s gripping crime novel “The Abyssinian Proof.” Today it contains prosaic sports facilities. inspect the walls of both structures more closely and you will see telltale signs of the original Byzantine brickwork.

The Great Palace

Before the coming of the Ottoman Topkapi Palace, the area that is now called Sultanahmet was the site of the Great Palace, home to the Byzantine emperors. Like Topkapi, this was not so much one big building like Buckingham Palace as a collection of brick-and-stone mansions and pavilions linked by corridors and open spaces. Because the Ottomans chose to base themselves in the same place, most of the Great Palace is lost beneath more recent monuments. However, one remarkable reminder did come to light back in the 1930s when a giant mosaic from the Magnaura Palace, one of the constituent parts of the Great Palace, was discovered. Today visitors to the Great Palace Mosaics Museum get the chance to gaze down on a carpet of tiny pieces of stone, glass and colored marble depicting scenes of everyday life in Byzantine times. Look out in particular for a bear up a tree, a monkey trying to catch birds and two boys playing with a hoop the color of whose clothing may have been chosen to evoke the colors of the most popular chariot teams of the day.

Another relic of the Great Palace can be viewed by diners at the Paladium Restaurant in Kutlugun Sokak or the Albura Kathisma Restaurant in Akbiyik Caddesi in Sultanahmet. This mysterious stretch of domed halls and corridors is believed to have served as a covered corridor inside the palace. its excavation was a labor of love undertaken by the owner of what was until recently the

Basdoğan Asia Minor carpet shop.

Yeralti Cami (underground mosque)

Hidden in the back streets of Karakoy, this subterranean mosque was built to house the remains of two Arab holy men who are believed to have taken part in an effort to capture Constantinople in the seventh century. it stands on the site of a tower to which would have been attached one end of the chain used to close off the Golden Horn to shipping in Byzantine times.

Sacred springs (Ayazmas)

Frequently overlooked by casual visitors to the city are the innumerable sacred springs — around 200 of them according to some sources — which can be found in or near many Greek Orthodox churches. Amongst the most popular with pilgrims are those inside the Balikli Kilise (Fish Church) opposite the Silivrikapi in the city walls, and the Blachernae Kilise in Ayvansaray on the Golden Horn, although those of a more adventurous bent might like to venture out to Kuruçesme where a spring can be found at the end of a tunnel adorned with stalactite-like rock formations behind the church of Hagios Demetrios, or to Moda where a spring dedicated to Hagia Katerina lurks inside the grounds of the Koço restaurant.

Buyuk Tas Han (Big Stone Han)

Behind the Laleli Cami in Fethi Bey Caddesi stands a restored han whose underground stable now houses a restaurant. in a somewhat unexpected footnote to Byzantine history it’s believed to stand over the site of a brothel in which the infamous Theodora, later the wife of the Emperor Justinian, started her working life.

For their eyes only

Many other treasures lie hidden beneath the city although all too often only the archeologists get to see them. There are, for example, tunnels and cisterns right under Aya Sofya that have been explored and then sealed up again. And excavations for Marmaray, the project to build a tunnel beneath the Bosporus to link Yenikapi and uskudar, uncovered the remains of the city’s huge medieval port and a treasure trove of wooden ships with their cargo still intact. Finds from the ships were until recently on show in the İstanbul Archeology Museum. it’s to be hoped that a new permanent home for them at Yenikapi will soon be on its way. The impressive Anemas Dungeons attached to the old Blachernae Palace at Ayvansaray are still undergoing restoration. As for the much-heralded Archeology Park in the grounds of the Four Seasons Sultanahmet Hotel that would offer visitors a glimpse at a cross-section through history from the remains of the Palace of Justice that burnt down in 1933 to those of a Byzantine bathhouse, sadly we are still waiting for it to open one year after the ticket office was installed..

Basilica Cistern / Yerebatan Sarayi
The largest of many Byzantine water storage systems in the city, the Basilica Cistern, supplied the palace and immediate suburbs. It was filled via rainwater and aqueducts from the Belgrade forest 20 km away. For a city so much besieged, it played a major role in maintaining its survival.

It is Emperor Justinian’s sixth century effort that exists today, having absorbed the smaller fourth century Byzantine predecessor into its core. The mix-mash of over 336 columns suggested that they were recycled or pillaged from ruins elsewhere, as evident by the long-time submerged beautiful Medusa snake heads at the end of the cistern, and the tree-trunk/tear effect column with carvings of that effect. The two medusa snake heads were directed to face eachother in the belief that the bad luck associated with her myth would reverse in the face of good luck.

With the arrival of the Ottomans to Istanbul, its function became extinct for 2 reasons. First of all, they were unaware of its very existence for a hundred years, until it was noticed that some people were selling sweet fresh-water fish in close vicinity, and from where could they have obtained them? Of course the fish had streamed into the cistern from the Black Sea via the aqueducts and ended up inside, multiplying there. Upon discovery, the Ottomans used it for watering the gardens of their palaces, as Islam forbade drinking anything other than pure running water.
Later it became a source for dumping rubbish and even corpses and it wasn’t until 1987 that the whole interior was cleaned out, and wooden platforms were put to walk around it for the first time.

Entering, one beholds a beautifully eerie and mysterious spectacle of this world of stone, illuminated columns and beautiful arches all throwing their reflection to you on the rippling water, splashing with plump Carp, and resonating with background classical music. Watch for the green-algaed walls to measure the previous volume of water held there, and be sure to follow the tradition of make-a-wish and throw-a-coin in the shallow water. It is a place of unmatched ambiance and strangeness, and a wonderful spot to enjoy a coffee in the little café with orchestral platform, where concerts are often held.

At the tender age of 19, a young Sultan dug for a whole day at the site of the new mosque, until he became tired. Thus it was that Sultan Ahmet I opened the work, engaging a student of the great architect Sinan, Mehmet Aaga, in an Ottoman attempt to rival the greatness of the Aya Sophia just opposite. It had taken quite a time to find a flat space large enough and this site of ancient Byzantine Palaces was agreed to be the most suitable. Ten years of work led to its completion, a mass granite structure sprouting 6 delicate minarets. Initially this incited serious debate and criticism as it posed the problem of being in direct competition with the also 6-minaretted mosque in sacred Mecca. However, the young Sultan quickly resolved this by financing the construction of a seventh mosque there. It is interesting that he came to power at the age of 16, ruled the Empire for 16 years, gave his name to the district and was the sixteenth Sultan. This is reflected by the total of 16 balconies on the minarets.

Its popular name, ‘Blue Mosque’, is generated from its interior decor of over 21,000 Iznik tiles in the upper galleries, which overall create a bluish effect. Over 260 windows stem the walls of this immense space. It couldn’t hope to equal the Byzantine feats achieved in the Aya Sophia however, evident by the huge elephant type pillars which underpin the dome. The architect hadn’t calculated to have them there at all, but towards the mosque’s completion he realized that the dome wouldn’t hold. Silk carpets, crystal chandeliers and overhead arabesque calligraphy on the walls and arches complete its decor.

On a winter’s evening, particularly when nestled beneath a gentle blanket of snow, the spotlighted domes and minarets of the Blue Mosque are a truly splendid sight to behold, magically elegant, and out of this world.