Turkey Guide
İstanbul
The Süleymaniye complex
Address: North through the university grounds
Heading north, downhill, through the university grounds, you will emerge in front of a collection of buildings considered to be the finest of all the Ottoman mosque complexes. Built by the renowned architect Mimar Sinan in honour of his most illustrious patron, Süleyman the Magnificent, it is arguably his greatest achievement.
When the imperial entourage moved to Topkapı, the grounds of the Old Palace were given over to the new complex, in what must have been a most attractive location overlooking the Golden Horn and its waterside parks and gardens. Süleymaniye Camii and its satellites, completed in just seven years from 1550, are built along traditional Islamic lines. The mosque is centralized beneath a dome at the very centre of the entire complex, but the whole achieves a perfection of form and a monumentality of appearance that set it apart from other Ottoman architecture.
Approaching from the university side, the first street encountered before entering the mosque precincts is Prof. Sıddık Sami Onal Caddesi, formerly Tıryakı Çarşısı, "market of the addicts". The name derives from the fact that the coffeehouses in this street, whose rents augmented the upkeep of the foundation, used also to serve hashish, to be smoked on the premises or taken away. The present line of student cafés here may be seedy but are evidently nothing like as interesting as the establishments they replaced.
Behind the shop fronts in this street is the Süleymaniye Library, housed in the Evvel and Sani medreses. These buildings, mirror images of each other, are situated around shady garden courtyards. Other buildings of interest in the vicinity include the Tomb of Mimar Sinan, on Mimar Sinan Caddesi. The tomb is in a triangular garden, which was the location of the architect's house during construction work.
The Süleymaniye hamam, built by Sinan in 1557, is on the corner of Mimar Sinan Caddesi and Dökmeciler Hamamı Sokak (daily 6.30am– midnight; 15YTL, 20YTL with massage; 
www.suleymaniyehamami.com ). Legend has it that the great architect took all his baths here from 1557 to 1588. It is a beautiful building, but in a terrible state of repair.