Publications & Papers
KURŞUNLU MAHZEN MANSİON AND THE UNDERGROUND MOSQUE
"In the 92nd year of the Hegira [711 AD], Ömer, the son of Abdülaziz, had a huge tower built and named it The Tower Of Kahr. Some called it the Kahr City. They than changed the building to a mosque, which is still a lead-covered place of granary."
In his famous book of Travels [Seyahatnâme], Evliya Çelebi describes the building as above.
Although Evliya Çelebi asserts that the tower, which is known to us as the Mahzen-i Sultani or the Lead-covered Granary, the Castellion ton Galatau was originally constructed during the reign of Tiberious II [578-582] for the purpose of keeping the entrance of the Golden Horn [Haliç] in control against increasing Arab assaults. In engravings depicted by Cristoforo Buondelmonti dating back to the first half of the 15th century, the tower consisted of a courtyard enclosed by high walls and a castle; it is also the point where one end of a big chain preventing passes to the Golden Horn was tied up. The building is often confused with the Tower of Galata as it had initially been called "Galatau", by which we are meeting with the name "Galata" for the first time. As emerged long before the Genoeses had settled down in Galata in the 6th century, the name urges us the immediate requisite for reconsidering the common knowledge that it is of a Genoese origin.
As they assumed the chain at the harbour to be a big obstacle in their way to besiege the city, the Crusaders captured the Castellion ton Galatau on July 17, 1027 after a tremendous brawl. As far as we know, that was the second siege og the Castellion ton Galatau. The Roman historian Theophanes mentions formerly that the İslam armies had fought on shore in front of the castle during the siege in 717 AD Having obtained settlement permission in Galata, the people of Geneose changed the castle to a garnisson town hosted by a small Byzantine military unit in accordance with the imposition of the permission gained as they had destroyed the existing walls of the castle. In the conquest of İstanbul the castle survived intact as Galata agreed to surrender to the Turkish army without a fight. Evliya Çelebi says the castle was damaged and some parts of it were destroyed during the reign of Beyazid II in an earthquake called "the Little Apocalypse." It is not known whether his statements are true but it is a known fact that the castle/Mahzen-i Sultani [the Imperial Granary] is not depicted in neither of the drawings of Matrakçı Nasuhi dated 1573 and nor in Hünername dating back 1584. Registered under the name of "the Lead-covered Store" in the official records of the 15th and 16th centuries, we also find out that remaining part of the castle was once used as the Grand Customs Office. The building, which most probably served as the warehouse for the imported goods brought to the city were stored and traded, was subsequently renewed with the removal of the new customs office on its place. The Lead-covered Granary Pavilion, one of the most beautiful sights of the Turkish civilian architecture, is the Customs Office which was constructed on the grounds of the larger bastion of the castle. The engraving by John Lewis dated 1836 brings back the sensational sight of the pavilion to us. There is also another picture taken from the Tower of Galata showing the back side of the Lead-covered Granary Pavilion.
The multi-footed granary situated at the basement floor level of the Lead-covered Granary Pavilion, which was constructed on the remainings of the tower section, is also the source of a legend. After a war in 714 AD, some high officials of the Ummayan Dynasty became martyr around the granary during the siege and were buried there along with Müslime / Mesleme, the commender-in-chief to the army, and, rumour has it that the gate of that section was closed down with a lead-cast seal while the army was marching back to Damascus. It is probably becouse of this rumour that the building became known as "the Leaded Granary" by public, although it was documented under "Mahsen-i Sultani", the Imperial Granary, in the official records. It is also among many other rumours that the graves of these Sahabes [the companions related by blood to the Prophet Muhammed] were ascertained in a dream by a Nakhshibendi Sheik, and thus recognized as a Holy Place in 17th century. Although Sultan Murad IV [1623-1640] projected a mosque just next to the graves, it was never carried out. About a century later, Köse Mustafa Bahir Paşa of Çorlu had the granary building cleaned and reorganized to serve as a mosque. It is due to this fact that the mosque was presented as though it had been granted by Sultan Mahmud I in the long inscribed stone panel over the gate dating H. 1166 [1752 AD]. We see that the cone-shaped minaret underwent some particular changes within years, yet we still do not know from which date on it was called "the Underground Mosque." In a photograph dating 1854, the minaret which appears in a long and thin lead conical shape, looks in a fairly different shape in another photograph taken in 1868. Renovated begining from the şerefe [narrow, circular balcony surrounding a minaret], the wooden stilts and hanging fringes of its şerefe present a unique sight to us. The former lead-cone was replaced with a maceshaped hood. We see in a latter photograph taken in early 1900s that the hood was once again changed with a relatively smaller, stubby lead cone. Considering the various sights of the minaret, it can be said that the building often underwent some repairs and changes within years. Situated on the same level with Kemeraltı Caddesi and supporting a two storey wooden building used as the General Health Directorate of Boundries and Coasts, the Underground Mosque has an orderly rectangular plan. It is hard to have an idea about the exterior of the mosque as it was surrounded by some various buildings. Even the minaret is hardly seen because of the neighbouring tall buildings. The entrance to the building is on the facade looking to Kemeraltı Caddesi. The main entrance gate with a space is situated in the central axis of the building; the last open space on the left side of the facade is mainly used for entries. A niche is placed ahead of the window just on the left side of the main entrance, and, to the left of it on the end space is located a small, lowered wooden pulpit. Daylight gets into the mosque through these three windows on this facade and the entrance door was fitted up later on. The other two entrances to the mosque open up presently to Karantina Sokak and they are the doors that are used by climbing the stairs inside the building. Independently built in the shape of squared-sections from the walls are there 45 steps covered with cross pendentives. It is almost impossible to comprehend the overall space of the mosque due to the fact that the interior is almost as big as the size of the pedestals. Inside the mosque are three holy persons, tombs, attributed namely to Amr B.Al-'Al-Sahmi [573?-663], Vehb B. Hureyşe and Süfyan B. Uyeyne. Süfyan B. Uyeyne lies in the main section facing the south of the mosque where a small open space is serving as an entrance; Amr B. Al-Aş Al-Sahmi and Vehb B. Hureyşe lie side by side in the space adjoining the south wing section of the building and leading to Karantina Sokak. Renovated recently, the mosque presents a spatial dissimilarity with the other mosques in our heritage. Being one of the most beautiful examples of utilizing a 1500 years old castle remained from a fortrees and conforming it to your own belief in harmony, the Underground Mosquee is one of the most original buildings that must seen by us all.