Fountain in Istanbul, Turkey
Fountain of Ahmed III and Hagia Sophia on the left side of the fountain.
Other side of the Fountain of Ahmed III
The fountain next to the Imperial Gate, etching by
Choiseul-Gouffier
.
The
Fountain of Sultan Ahmed III
(
Turkish
:
III. Ahmet Ce?mesi
) is a
fountain
(specifically a
sebil
) in the great square in front of the Imperial Gate of
Topkapı Palace
in
Istanbul
,
Turkey
. It was built under
Ottoman
sultan
Ahmed III
in 1728, in the
style of the Tulip period
. It was a social centre and gathering place during the Ottoman period of
Constantinople
.
History
[
edit
]
The fountain was built in 1728 under the patronage of Sultan Ahmed III.
[1]
[2]
It is the oldest and most impressive example of the new type of stand-alone fountains that were built during the
Tulip Period
, mostly between 1728 and 1732.
[1]
[2]
In the same year (1728), Ahmed III also commissioned a similar
fountain in Uskudar
, although it has a slightly simpler design.
[1]
The fountain was depicted on the
reverse
of the Turkish 10
lira
banknotes of 1947
?
1952.
[3]
Architecture
[
edit
]
Closeup of some of the details.
The fountain is a large square block built with five small domes.
Mihrab
-shaped niches decorated in low relief with foliate and floral designs in each of the four facades, each containing a drinking fountain (
ce?me
). The water is supplied from an octagonal pool inside the kiosk, with circulation space around it for kiosk attendants. On each corner is a triple-grilled
sebil
(from which an attendant issued cups of water or sherbet, free of charge, from behind a grille).
Above the drinking fountains and niches on each facade and
sebil
are large
calligraphic
plates bordered with blue and red tiles. Each plate bears stanzas of a 14-line poem dedicated to water and its donor by Seyyid Huseyin Vehbi bin Ahmed, the chief judge of Halep and Kayseri. It is read clockwise around the fountain, beginning at the northern
sebil
. The last stanza of the poem the northwest facade is a
chronogram
composed by Ahmed III.
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
Further reading
[
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]
- Dunden Bugune Istanbul Ansiklopedisi
(1993) Istanbul, Turkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı I, 116-117.
- Aynur, Hatice and Hakan T. Karateke (1995)
III. Ahmed devri Istanbul cesmeleri, 1703-1730
. Istanbul, Istanbul Buyuk?ehir Belediyesi Kultur ??leri Daire Ba?kanlı?ı.
- Egemen, Affan (1993)
Istanbul'un cesme ve sebilleri: resimleri ve kitabeleri ile 1165 cesme ve sebil
. Istanbul, Aritan Yayinevi.
- Kara Pilehvarian, Nuran (2000)
Fountains in Ottoman Istanbul
. Istanbul, Yapi-Endustri Merkezi Yayinlari.
- ?erifo?lu, Omer Faruk (1995)
Su guzeli: Istanbul sebilleri
. Istanbul, Istanbul Buyuk?ehir Belediyesi Kultur ??leri Daire Ba?kanlı?ı.
External links
[
edit
]
41°00′29.71″N
28°58′52.36″E
/
41.0082528°N 28.9812111°E
/
41.0082528; 28.9812111
