Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine March 2019 | Page 113

Travel | Istanbul
1 A Turkey's flag seller at Istanbul’s
Spice Bazaar.
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2 An aisle at Istanbul's Grand Bazaar,
one of the largest and the oldest shopping
malls in the world.
3 The Grand Bazaar sells everything
including carpets and textiles with
favourite's Ottoman motifs.
4 Byzantine army figurines sold for
souvenirs at the Grand Bazaar.
architecture is splendid, culminating
in the 400-odd rooms of the harem quarters.
Delicate arched doorways lead into
courtyards where exquisite pavilions are
mirrored in rectangular pools. But the palace
also has exhibits that range from calligraphy
and porcelain to armour and gold jewellery,
highlighting the sophisticated craftsmanship
of imperial times. Relics of the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) are among
its priceless treasures.
Istanbul’s architecture is seldom modest.
Right outside the enormous Topkapı Palace
stands the gargantuan Blue Mosque, with its
many domes and six minarets. Light streams
into the interior of the building through
stained-glass windows, lighting up the
patterns on its blue Iznik tiles and woodwork
encrusted with ivory and mother-of-pearl.
During the month of Ramadan, lights are
hung in the trees outside and food stalls are
set up after dusk offering all kinds of local
delicacies – a rather agreeable reminder that
daily life still continues in Istanbul despite
its impressive historical monuments.
A later sultan, Süleyman the Magnificent,
also stamped Istanbul with his architectural
mark by erecting some of the city’s most
prominent Islamic buildings during his long
reign from 1520 to 1566. Among the most
notable is the octagonal Rüstem Paşa
Mosque, named after the sultan’s grand
vizier and son-in-law. This is certainly the
most elaborately decorated of all the city’s
mosques, with every inch covered in superb
tilework depicting tulips and other flowers
in beautiful, multi-coloured harmony.
The palace of an earlier grand vizier,
Pargali Ibrahim Paşa, now houses the
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art,
which by any account is one of Istanbul’s top
museums. It houses outstanding illustrated
Qu’rans, stunning Qu’ran boxes inlaid with
mother-of-pearl, and official edicts written in
sumptuous Arabic calligraphy. There are also
several examples of the tugra (official seal)
of Süleyman the Magnificent, intricately
scripted and embellished with floral and
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At the Grand Bazaar, seek out Ottoman jewellery, old
textiles, calligraphy and perhaps an elegant brass coffee
pot or hubble-bubble.
geometric designs in gold, scarlet and
peacock blue. If the taxman would only send
us letters signed like this, we would no doubt
pay up with a glad heart.
In contrast to all this sumptuous decoration,
the Süleyman Mosque has a rather austere
beauty. Inside, mother-of-pearl inlay vies
with glazed tiles and Ottoman stained glass,
but the gigantic dome is the real
architectural masterpiece, seeming to
effortlessly float high above your craned
neck. The huge mosque is part of a splendid
imperial complex that includes surrounding
schools, as well as a library, medical college
and hospital, over which soar four minarets
so slender it seems they are about to topple
over. Also in the grounds lies the mausoleum
of the great Süleyman and his wife. Its dome
is fantastic in rich red, black and gold
patterns studded with glittering diamonds
to resemble a starry sky.
If exhaustion hasn’t set in, there is plenty
more to see on the Islamic trail, including a
dozen more notable mosques. For a change
of pace, the Sadberk Hanim Museum is the
waterside mansion of a billionaire businessman
that has superb collections of Byzantine silver,
Islamic art and Ottoman-era embroidery and
calligraphy. Divan Edebiyati Museum,
meanwhile, has a collection of musical
instruments and exhibits devoted to the Sufi
sect of Islam. Go on a Sunday afternoon if
you can, when there are concerts of Sufi music
accompanied by the spinning dances that
give this sect their ‘whirling dervish’ nickname
in the West – and proves that Islamic culture
in all its variety is still alive and well in
various corners of modern Istanbul.