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There are three entrances at the front
courtyard and three at the mosque building. There is an elegant
'sadirvan' (set of fountains especially for ablution) in the
middle of the courtyard surrounded by 25 domes which are built
on 20 ancient columns made of coloured porphyry and granite.
The harmony of red and white arches around
the courtyard and the marble slabs coverings the ground are
worth seeing. The Beyazıt Square beautiful main entrance door of
front courtyard is opposite the niche and decorated with
stalactite adornments with crown and epitaph.
Among all the market places established in
Istanbul during the month of Ramadan, the one established in the
courtyard of Beyazid Mosque was the richest and most showy.
There are two minarets with balconies at each end of the mosque,
having 87 m. distance between each other. The one at the south
has preserved its original form whereas the other at the north
was reconstructed completely from its pedestal in the 19th
century. The eight red braces on the minarets add to the beauty
of the mosque.
The semi-domes at the east and west of the
main dome are carried by 4-cornered main columns and 2 porphyry
columns. The side isles are separated with columns and each is
covered with four small domes. The adornments around the dome
and semi-domes resemble cloth paint and remind the motifs of the
tents of nomadic Turkoman tribes, ancestor of Ottomans. The
tiles, engravings and old Ottoman writings inside the dome
beautify the decoration of the mosque. The Sultan's Lodge made
of marble is very elegant.
Behind the mosque there are three tombs. In
the octagonal one made of coarse sandstone, Sultan Bayezid; in
the second his daughter, Selguk Hatun; and in the third Buyiik
Resid Pasha, the famous Grand Vizier of the Reformation period,
who died in 1857, are buried. The charity establishment and
primary school which belong to the mosque are today used as a
library. The bath which was built out of old Byzantine
construction materials, is kept closed. |
