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Çarşamba is an interesting neighborhood in the Fatih district of Istanbul. It’s located inland from the Fener and Balat neighborhoods.
Introduction to Çarşamba
Çarşamba is named after a town in the Black Sea region. According to Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi (1611-1682), the area was repopulated after the Fall of Constantinople with people from that town.
Çarşamba also translates to Wednesday, which also happens to be the day the weekly neighborhood market takes place. The Wednesday Market is held around the streets near the Fatih Mosque, and part of it spills out onto the streets of Çarşamba. For visitors, there’s a small collection of monuments from the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods in the neighborhood in addition to the Wednesday Market.
Darüşşafaka High School
A few blocks north of the Fatih Mosque is the former campus of Darüşşafaka High School (Darüşşafaka Lisesi). The building was completed in 1873 by Ottoman Armenian architect Hovhannes Kalfa and housed the prestigious high school until 1993. After that year, the school moved to Maslak.
The building now houses the Mehmed the Conqueror Anatolian Imam Hatip High School (Fatih Sultan Mehmet Anadolu İmam Hatip Lisesi).
Yavsi Baba Lodge Cemetery
North of the school on Yavuz Selim Avenue is a strangely placed cemetery in the middle of the road. The cemetery used to belong to the Yavsi Baba Lodge, which no longer exists. Şeyh Yavsi (d. 1514) was the teacher of Sultan Bayezid II and father of Ebussuud Efendi (1490-1574), a Şeyhülislam (Shaykh al-Islam) under Süleyman the Magnificent. He’s not buried in the cemetery.
Sultan Cistern
Just around the corner is the Sultan Cistern, which is an old Roman cistern that now holds weddings and other events. It dates back to the 4th century during the reign of Theodosius I. There are 28 columns inside, seven are granite and the rest are white marble. Restoration of the cistern began in 2000 and took 7 years. It was closed when I walked by so I wasn’t able to pop inside. The website has a photo gallery if you’re curious to see how it looks.
Cistern of Aspar
The wide open space next to the Yavuz Selim Mosque was the Cistern of Aspar (Ἂσπαρος κινστέρνη / Sultan Selim Çukurbostanı). It was built by Flavius Ardabur Aspar (400-471), the general of a Germanic army serving the Roman Empire. Construction on the open-air cistern started in the middle of the 5th century under Emperor Marcian and it sat near the Wall of Constantine.
The Cistern of Aspar was empty by 1540 and was used as a vegetable garden during the Ottoman period. There was also a small village and mosque inside. It now hosts a city park with social and sporting areas.
The cistern was 152 meters (499 feet) long on each side and covered an area of 23,100 square meters (249,000 square feet). It was between 10 meters (33 feet) and 11 meters (36 feet) deep and could hold between 61 and 66 million gallons of water. Some of the original Roman walls are still in place.
Hırami Ahmed Pasha Mosque
Finally, walking towards the Pammakaristos Church (Fethiye Museum), is the Hırami Ahmed Pasha Mosque (Hırami Ahmed Paşa Mescidi). This tiny building was actually a Byzantine church, St. John the Forerunner by the Dome (Ἃγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Πρόδρομος ἐν τῷ Τρούλλῳ). It’s the smallest Byzantine church in Istanbul still standing and dates back to the 12th century.
The church was converted into a mosque by Hırami Ahmed Pasha, the Ağa of the Jannisaries, sometime between 1587 and 1598. The building was dilapidated by the 20th century, and it was restored and reopened to worship in 1961.
