The Büyük Valide Han ( Turkish : Büyük Valide Han , lit. 'great inn of the sultan's mother ') is the largest historic han ( caravanserai ) in Istanbul , Turkey . It was founded in 1651 by Kösem Valide Sultan , the mother of the Ottoman sultans Murat IV and Ibrahim .
134-636: The han is located in the central historic market district that extends from the Grand Bazaar to the Eminönü neighbourhood on the shore of the Golden Horn . Since the founding of the first bedesten by Mehmet II in the mid-15th century, the Grand Bazaar developed into the city's main hub of international trade, spawning entire districts of shops, warehouses, and merchant lodgings. A han ,
268-399: A vault (French voûte , from Italian volta ) is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while rings of voussoirs are constructed and the rings placed in position. Until the topmost voussoir, the keystone , is positioned, the vault is not self-supporting. Where timber
402-495: A general plan, gave to the market – especially in its western part – a picturesque appearance, with its maze of roads and lanes crossing each other at various angles. Until the restoration following the quake of 1894, the Grand Bazaar had no shops as found in the western world: along both sides of the roads merchants sat on wooden divans in front of their shelves. Each of them occupied a space 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 m) in width, and 3 to 4 feet (0.91 to 1.22 m) in depth. This
536-399: A hemispherical dome is cut by four vertical planes, the intersection gives four semicircular arches; if cut in addition by a horizontal plane tangent to the top of these arches, it describes a circle; that portion of the sphere which is below this circle and between the arches, forming a spherical spandrel , is the pendentive , and its radius is equal to the diagonal of the square on which
670-422: A later addition which is two-story, are one story. The roofs are mainly covered with tiles, while the part burnt in 1954 uses now tarmac . In the bazaar no artificial light was foreseen, also to prevent fires, and smoking was strictly prohibited. The roads outside the inner Bedesten are roughly parallel to it. The damages caused by the many fires and quakes along the centuries, together with the repairs done without
804-423: A new one, it was only necessary to have enough traders of the same good. Afterwards, a monopoly was formed and the number of traders and shops was frozen. One could only be accepted in the guild through co-optation, either as son of a deceased member, or after paying a suitable sum to a member who wanted to retire. The guild's chief was a public officer called Kethüda . He was paid by the guild but appointed by
938-446: A peculiar twisting of the web, where the springing of the wall rib is at K: to these twisted surfaces the term ploughshare vaulting is given. One of the earliest examples of the introduction of the intermediate rib is found in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral , and there the ridge rib is not carried to the wall rib. It was soon found, however, that the construction of the web was much facilitated by additional ribs, and consequently there
1072-515: A series of domes carried on pendentives covered over the nave, the chief peculiarities of these domes being the fact that the arches carrying them form part of the pendentives, which are all built in horizontal courses. The intersecting and groined vault of the Romans was employed in the early Christian churches in Rome, but only over the aisles, which were comparatively of small span, but in these there
1206-536: A slight rise in the centre, so as to increase its strength; this enabled the French masons to dispense with the intermediate rib, which was not introduced by them till the 15th century, and then more as a decorative than a constructive feature, as the domical form given to the French web rendered unnecessary the ridge rib, which, with some few exceptions, exists only in England. In both English and French vaulting centering
1340-554: A span of 80 feet (24 m), more than twice that of an English cathedral , so that its construction both from the statical and economical point of view was of the greatest importance. The researches of M. Choisy ( L'Art de bâtir chez les Romains ), based on a minute examination of those portions of the vaults which still remain in situ , have shown that, on a comparatively slight centering, consisting of trusses placed about 10 feet (3.0 m) apart and covered with planks laid from truss to truss, were laid – to begin with – two layers of
1474-573: A supplementary rib across the church and between the transverse ribs. This resulted in what is known as a sexpartite, or six-celled vault , of which one of the earliest examples is found in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes at Caen . This church, built by William the Conqueror, was originally constructed to carry a timber roof only, but nearly a century later the upper part of the nave walls were partly rebuilt, in order that it might be covered with
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#17327731674831608-400: A total area of 30,700 m , attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar at Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world . The Grand Bazaar is located inside the walled city of Istanbul , in the district of Fatih and in
1742-494: A two-story gallery with vaulted corridors which surrounds the courtyards. In the middle of the main courtyard is a small mosque, which was first built for the Shi'a Iranian community in the 19th century but burned down in 1947 and was rebuilt in 1951. Although the han remains representative of the commercial architecture of its time, it has been modified frequently over the centuries in order to expand and adapt it to evolving needs. By
1876-550: A type of urban caravanserai , was a common type of commercial structure in Ottoman architecture (and more broadly in Islamic-world architecture ) which served a number of functions including lodging for foreign merchants, storage for goods or merchandise, housing for artisan workshops, and offices from which to conduct dealings. A number of han s were built over the centuries in and around the Grand Bazaar district. Before
2010-425: A vault. The immense size, however, of the square vault over the nave necessitated some additional support, so that an intermediate rib was thrown across the church, dividing the square compartment into six cells, and called the sexpartite vault The intermediate rib, however, had the disadvantage of partially obscuring one side of the clerestory windows, and it threw unequal weights on the alternate piers, so that in
2144-416: A wider sense of the word vault. The distinction between the two is that a vault is essentially an arch which is extruded into the third dimension , whereas a dome is an arch revolved around its vertical axis . Pitched-brick vaults are named for their construction, the bricks are installed vertically (not radially) and are leaning (pitched) at an angle: This allows their construction to be completed without
2278-521: Is a form of vaulting common in Islamic architecture . The 20th century saw great advances in reinforced concrete design. The advent of shell construction and the better mathematical understanding of hyperbolic paraboloids allowed very thin, strong vaults to be constructed with previously unseen shapes. The vaults in the Church of Saint Sava are made of prefabricated concrete boxes. They were built on
2412-508: Is another dome, (the dome that one sees from the inside), but of plaster supported by a wood frame. From the inside, one can easily assume that one is looking at the same vault that one sees from the outside. There are two distinctive "other ribbed vaults" (called "Karbandi" in Persian) in India which form no part of the development of European vaults, but have some unusual features; one carries
2546-470: Is due to the Romans . When two semicircular barrel vaults of the same diameter cross one another their intersection (a true ellipse) is known as a groin vault , down which the thrust of the vault is carried to the cross walls; if a series of two or more barrel vaults intersect one another, the weight is carried on to the piers at their intersection and the thrust is transmitted to the outer cross walls; thus in
2680-493: Is easily obtained, this temporary support is provided by centering consisting of a framed truss with a semicircular or segmental head, which supports the voussoirs until the ring of the whole arch is completed. Corbelled vaults, also called false vaults, with horizontally joined layers of stone have been documented since prehistoric times; in the 14th century BC from Mycenae. They were built regionally until modern times. The real vault construction with radially joined stones
2814-527: Is known as a squinch . There is one other remarkable vault, also built by Justinian, in the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople. The central area of this church was octagonal on plan, and the dome is divided into sixteen compartments; of these eight consist of broad flat bands rising from the centre of each of the walls, and the alternate eight are concave cells over
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#17327731674832948-599: Is located just east of Uzun Çarşı Caddesi (Uzun Çarşı Street) and its entrance opens onto Mercan Caddesi (Mercan Street). A number of other historic han s also adjoin this street within the same vicinity, in varying states of preservation. The most notable examples include: the Büyük Yeni Han (completed in 1764 and the second-largest han in the city after the Valide Han), the Küçük Yeni Han (built at
3082-574: Is no proper toilet facility. Moreover, the lack of controls in the past years allowed many dealers to remove columns and skive walls in their shops to gain space; this, together with the substitution of lead (stolen in the last years) with concrete on the market's roof, has created a great hazard when the earthquake expected in Istanbul in the next years will occur. The Grand Bazaar is opened each day except Sundays and bank holidays from 9:00 until 19:00. Vault (architecture) In architecture ,
3216-409: Is one in which all of the groins are covered by ribs or diagonal ribs in the form of segmental arches. Their curvatures are defined by the bounding arches. Whilst the transverse arches retain the same semi-circular profile as their groin-vaulted counterparts, the longitudinal arches are pointed with both arcs having their centres on the impost line . This allows the latter to correspond more closely to
3350-503: Is only open for certain occasions. In recent years the han was also visited by tourists enjoying the views of the city available from its rooftop. The interior of the han also made a brief appearance during a motorcycle chase scene in the 2012 James Bond movie Skyfall . The han covers a large area centered around a vast central square courtyard, measuring 55 meters per side, and two other lesser courtyards. While traditional caravanserais typically featured only one central courtyard,
3484-648: Is surmised that to the top of the pendentives they were built in horizontal courses of brick, projecting one over the other, the projecting angles being cut off afterwards and covered with stucco in which the mosaics were embedded; this was the method employed in the erection of the Périgordian domes, to which we shall return; these, however, were of less diameter than those of the Hagia Sophia, being only about 40 to 60 feet (18 m) instead of 107 feet (33 m) The apotheosis of Byzantine architecture , in fact,
3618-457: Is surmounted by a brick dome with blind drum . In the inner and in the outer walls have been built 44 cellars ( Turkish : mahzen ), vaulted rooms without external openings. The sunlight in Bedesten comes from rectangular windows placed right under the roof: they can be accessed through a wooden ambulatory. Due to the scarce illumination, the edifice was kept open only some hours each day, and
3752-486: Is the only such tower still standing in the city today. In the han ' s older days the tower's upper chamber was used as a mosque and its lower chamber was used as a weaving mill, but today it is largely disused. As the neighbourhood of the Büyük Valide Han is at the heart of the city's historic merchant district, the area is filled with a number of other historic Ottoman commercial buildings. The Valide Han
3886-410: Is tied to the others through brick arches tied by juniper beams, and masonry is made with rubble . Both buildings were closed by iron gates. Aside from the bedestens, originally the Grand Bazaar structures were built with wood, and only after the 1700 fire, they were rebuilt in stone and brickwork, and covered. All the bazaar edifices, except the fur dealers market ( Turkish : Kürkçüler Çarsısı ),
4020-568: The Uzun Çarşı ) 1695, and 1701. The fire of 1701 was particularly fierce, forcing Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha to rebuild several parts of the complex in 1730–1731. In 1738 the Kızlar Ağası Beşir Ağa endowed the Fountain (still existing) near Mercan Kapı. In this period, because of the new law against fires issued in 1696, several parts of the market which lay between
4154-727: The Kadı of Istanbul. Fixation of prices and taxes were matter of the Kethüda . He was joined by a representative of the guild's member, called Yiğitbaşı ('chief of the brave young fellows'). These two officers were flanked by the assembly of the elders, non necessarily old in age, but comprising the most experienced traders. Parallel to the guilds, there were purely religious organizations, called fütüvvet tariks . Their members met in Dervish shrines and performed religious functions. These organizations became less and less important with time due to
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4288-654: The Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence , built by Filippo Brunelleschi , and Ferguson cites as an example the great dome of the church at Mousta in Malta , erected in the first half of the 19th century, which was built entirely without centering of any kind. It is important to note that whereas Roman vaults, like that of the Pantheon , and Byzantine vaults, like that at Hagia Sophia , were not protected from above (i.e.
4422-568: The Sumerians , possibly under the ziggurat at Nippur in Babylonia , which was built of fired bricks cemented with clay mortar . The earliest barrel vaults in ancient Egypt are thought to be those in the granaries built by the 19th dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II , the ruins of which are behind the Ramesseum , at Thebes . The span was 12 feet (3.7 m) and the lower part of
4556-425: The han s of Istanbul grew in complexity over time and sometimes demonstrated irregular floor plans in order to adapt to limited space in the densely built-up city. The Büyük Valide Han's irregular layout was an example of this trend and it may have been the first example to have as many as three courtyards. The first courtyard, as one enters the building, is of an irregular but roughly triangular shape, with one side of
4690-498: The tepidaria of the Thermae and in the basilica of Constantine , in order to bring the thrust well within the walls, the main barrel vault of the hall was brought forward on each side and rested on detached columns, which constituted the principal architectural decoration. In cases where the cross vaults intersecting were not of the same span as those of the main vault, the arches were either stilted so that their soffits might be of
4824-581: The "Sandal Bedesten" (the name comes from a kind of thread woven in Bursa , which had the colour of sandalwood ), also named Küçük ("Little"), Cedit or Yeni (both words meaning "New") Bedesten, which lay north of the first. After the erection of the Sandal Bedesten the trade in textiles moved there, while the Cevahir Bedesten was reserved for the trade in luxury goods. At
4958-565: The 2 bedesten , 13 han (plus several more outside). The last major catastrophe happened in 1894: a strong earthquake that rocked Istanbul. The Minister of Public Works, Mahmud Celaleddin Pasha, supervised the repair of the damaged Bazaar until 1898, and on this occasion the complex was reduced in area. To the west, the Bit Pazarı was left outside the new perimeter and became an open-sky road, named Çadırcılar Caddesi ("Tentmaker Road"), while
5092-665: The Artopoleia (in Greek) ( Ἀρτοπωλεῖα ), the city's bakers' quarter in Byzantine times. The construction of the Bedesten ended in the winter of 1460/61, and the building was endowed to the waqf of the Hagia Sophia Mosque. Analysis of the brickwork shows that most of the structure originates from the second half of the 15th century, although a Byzantine relief representing a Comnenian eagle, still enclosed on
5226-583: The Bazaar, but none is representative of the whole seller community. Today the Grand Bazaar is a thriving complex, employing 26,000 people visited by between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily, and one of the major landmarks of Istanbul. It must compete with modern shopping malls common in Istanbul, but its beauty and fascination represent a formidable advantage for it. The head of the Grand Bazaar Artisans Association claimed that
5360-462: The Bazaar, perceived as antiquated, and into opening new shops in quarters frequented by Europeans, such as Pera and Galata . According to an 1890 survey, in the Bazaar there were 4,399 active shops, 2 bedesten , 2195 rooms, 1 hamam , one mosque, 10 medrese , 19 fountains (among them two şadırvan and one sebil ), one mausoleum and 24 han . In the 30.7 hectares of the complex, protected by 18 gates, there are 3,000 shops along 61 streets,
5494-456: The East, traders of the same type of goods were forcibly concentrated along one road, which got its name from their profession. The Inner Bedesten hosted the most precious wares: jewelers, armourers, crystal dealers had their shops there. The Sandal Bedesten was mainly the center of the silk trade, but also other goods were on sale there. The most picturesque parts of the market were – apart from
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5628-728: The Greek Makros Embolos ( Μακρὸς Ἔμβολος , "Long Portico"), a long porticoed mall stretching downhill from the Forum of Constantine to the Golden Horn , which was one of the main market areas of the city, while the old book market ( Sahaflar Çarşısı ) was moved from the Bazaar to the present picturesque location near the Beyazid Mosque only after the 1894 Istanbul earthquake . Some years later —according to other sources, this occurred in 1545 under Sultan Suleiman I —Mehmed II had another covered market built,
5762-500: The Nimrud sculptures, the chief difference being that, constructed in rubble stone and cemented with mortar, they still exist, though probably abandoned on the Islamic invasion in the 7th century. A groin vault is formed by the intersection of two or more barrel vaults, resulting in the formation of angles or groins along the lines of transition between the webs. In these bays the longer transverse arches are semi-circular, as are
5896-581: The Ottoman Empire in three continents, and the total control of road communications between Asia and Europe, rendered the Bazaar and the surrounding han s or caravanserais the hub of the Mediterranean trade. According to several European travelers, at that time, and until the first half of the 19th century, the market was unrivaled in Europe with regards to the abundance, variety and quality of
6030-474: The Roman brick (measuring nearly 2 feet (0.61 m) square and 2 in. thick); on these and on the trusses transverse rings of brick were built with longitudinal ties at intervals; on the brick layers and embedding the rings and cross ties concrete was thrown in horizontal layers, the haunches being filled in solid, and the surface sloped on either side and covered over with a tile roof of low pitch laid direct on
6164-542: The Roman reservoir at Baiae , known as the Piscina Mirabilis , a series of five aisles with semicircular barrel vaults are intersected by twelve cross aisles, the vaults being carried on 48 piers and thick external walls. The width of these aisles being only about 13 feet (4.0 m) there was no great difficulty in the construction of these vaults, but in the Roman Baths of Caracalla the tepidarium had
6298-591: The Romans already replaced by small cupolas or domes. These domes, however, are of small dimensions when compared with that projected and carried out by Justinian in the Hagia Sophia . Previous to this the greatest dome was that of the Pantheon at Rome, but this was carried on an immense wall 20 feet (6.1 m) thick, and with the exception of small niches or recesses in the thickness of the wall could not be extended, so that Justinian apparently instructed his architect to provide an immense hemicycle or apse at
6432-414: The aisles, and the other two partly by smaller arches in the apse, the thrust being carried to the outer walls, and to a certain extent by the side walls which were built under the arches. From the description given by Procopius we gather that the centering employed for the great arches consisted of a wall erected to support them during their erection. The construction of the pendentives is not known, but it
6566-550: The aisles, which had only half the span of the nave ; of this there is an interesting example in the Chapel of Saint John in the Tower of London – and sometimes by half-barrel vaults. The great thickness of the walls, however, required in such constructions would seem to have led to another solution of the problem of roofing over churches with incombustible material, viz. that which is found throughout Périgord and La Charente , where
6700-460: The angles of the octagon, which externally and internally give to the roof the appearance of an umbrella. Although the dome constitutes the principal characteristic of the Byzantine church, throughout Asia Minor are numerous examples in which the naves are vaulted with the semicircular barrel vault, and this is the type of vault found throughout the south of France in the 11th and 12th centuries,
6834-634: The angles, as in the Mosque of Damascus , which was built by Byzantine workmen for the Al-Walid I in CE 705; these gave an octagonal base on which the hemispherical dome rested; or again, as in the Sassanian palaces of Sarvestan and Firouzabad of the 4th and 5th century, when a series of concentric arch rings, projecting one in front of the other, were built, giving also an octagonal base; each of these pendentives
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#17327731674836968-404: The arch was built in horizontal courses, up to about one-third of the height, and the rings above were inclined back at a slight angle, so that the bricks of each ring, laid flatwise, adhered till the ring was completed, no centering of any kind being required; the vault thus formed was elliptic in section, arising from the method of its construction. A similar system of construction was employed for
7102-472: The bays into square compartments. In the 12th century the first attempts were made to vault over the naves, which were twice the width of the aisles, so it became necessary to include two bays of the aisles to form one rectangular bay in the nave (although this is often mistaken as square). It followed that every alternate pier served no purpose, so far as the support of the nave vault was concerned, and this would seem to have suggested an alternative to provide
7236-413: The bazaar was patrolled by guards paid by the merchants' guilds . In order to access the complex during night hours, an imperial edict was required. The only official night opening in the history of the Bazaar occurred in 1867 during the feast organized for the return of Sultan Abdülaziz from Egypt, when the sovereign crossed the illuminated market riding a horse among the rejoicing populace. Despite
7370-615: The beginning of the 19th century, most of the Iranian merchant community was established in a small caravanserai called Hoca Han in the Eyüp neighbourhood. However the community grew in number and importance during the 19th century following the Treaties of Erzurum (1823-1847) which allowed for the resumption of trade and diplomatic relations between the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran . In order to accommodate this growth, they began to move into
7504-509: The beginning the two buildings were isolated. According to the 16th-century French traveller Pierre Gilles , between them and the Mosque of Beyazid stood the ruins of churches and a large cistern . However, soon many sellers opened their shops between and around them, so that a whole quarter was born, devoted exclusively to commerce. At the beginning of the 17th century the Grand Bazaar had already achieved its final shape. The enormous extent of
7638-459: The cathedral of Soissons (1205) a quadripartite or four-celled vault was introduced, the width of each bay being half the span of the nave, and corresponding therefore with the aisle piers. To this there are some exceptions, in Sant' Ambrogio, Milan, and San Michele, Pavia (the original vault), and in the cathedrals of Speyer , Mainz and Worms , where the quadripartite vaults are nearly square,
7772-478: The central dome of the Jumma Musjid at Bijapur (A.D. 1559), and the other is Gol Gumbaz , the tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah II (1626–1660) in the same town. The vault of the latter was constructed over a hall 135 feet (41 m) square, to carry a hemispherical dome. The ribs, instead of being carried across the angles only, thus giving an octagonal base for the dome, are carried across to the further pier of
7906-410: The choir aisles of the abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris , built by the abbot Suger in 1135. It was in the church at Vezelay (1140) that it was extended to the square bay of the porch . As has been pointed out, the aisles had already in the early Christian churches been covered over with groined vaults, the only advance made in the later developments being the introduction of transverse ribs' dividing
8040-472: The circular buildings supported beehive shaped corbel domed vaults of unfired mud-bricks and also represent the first evidence for settlements with an upper floor. Similar beehive tombs , called tholoi , exist in Crete and Northern Iraq . Their construction differs from that at Khirokitia in that most appear partially buried and make provision for a dromos entry. The inclusion of domes, however, represents
8174-520: The cloth sellers". The building – named alternately in Turkish İç ("Internal"), Antik ("Ancient"), or Eski ("Old") Bedesten – lies on the slope of the third hill of Istanbul , between the ancient Fora of Constantine and of Theodosius . It was also near the first sultan's palace, the Old Palace ( Eski Saray ), which was also in construction in those same years, and not far from
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#17327731674838308-458: The complex was in 2011 – the year of its 550th birthday – the most visited monument in the world. A restoration project starting in 2012 should renew its infrastructure, heating and lighting systems. Moreover, the han s inside the Market will be renovated and later additions will be demolished. This project should finally solve the big problems of the market: for example, in the whole Bazaar there
8442-421: The concrete had set, not only made the concrete as solid as the rock itself, but to a certain extent neutralized the thrust of the vaults, which formed shells equivalent to that of a metal lid; the Romans, however, do not seem to have recognized the value of this pozzolana mixture, for they otherwise provided amply for the counteracting of any thrust which might exist by the erection of cross walls and buttresses. In
8576-403: The concrete. The rings relieved the centering from the weight imposed, and the two layers of bricks carried the concrete till it had set. As the walls carrying these vaults were also built in concrete with occasional bond courses of brick, the whole structure was homogeneous. One of the important ingredients of the mortar was a volcanic deposit found near Rome, known as pozzolana , which, when
8710-406: The construction of the Büyük Valide Han, the site was occupied by the 16th-century palace of Cerrah Mehmed Pasha . It was in this palace that one of the first printing presses in the city was set up, in 1567, by Apkar of Sivas . The han was founded in 1651 by Kösem Mahpeyker Valide Sultan , the powerful mother of the Ottoman sultans Murat IV and Ibrahim . Its revenues were used to finance
8844-406: The construction of vaults reverted to the geometrical surfaces of the Romans, without, however, always that economy in centering to which they had attached so much importance, and more especially in small structures. In large vaults, where it constituted an important expense, the chief boast of some of the most eminent architects has been that centering was dispensed with, as in the case of the dome of
8978-438: The courses dipped towards the former, and at the apex of the vault were cut to fit one another. In the early English Gothic period, in consequence of the great span of the vault and the very slight rise or curvature of the web, it was thought better to simplify the construction of the web by introducing intermediate ribs between the wall rib and the diagonal rib and between the diagonal and the transverse ribs; and in order to meet
9112-626: The curvatures of the diagonal ribs, producing a straight tunnel running from east to west. Reference has been made to the rib vault in Roman work, where the intersecting barrel vaults were not of the same diameter. Their construction must at all times have been somewhat difficult, but where the barrel vaulting was carried round over the choir aisle and was intersected (as in St Bartholomew-the-Great in Smithfield, London ) by semicones instead of cylinders, it became worse and
9246-401: The difficulty, however, of working the ribs separately led to two other important changes: (1) the lower part of the transverse diagonal and wall ribs were all worked out of one stone; and (2) the lower horizontal, constituting what is known as the tas-de-charge or solid springer . The tas-de-charge, or solid springer, had two advantages: (1) it enabled the stone courses to run straight through
9380-461: The eastern end, a similar apse at the western end, and great arches on either side, the walls under which would be pierced with windows. Unlike the Pantheon dome, the upper portions of which are made of concrete, Byzantine domes were made of brick, which were lighter and thinner, but more vulnerable to the forces exerted onto them. The diagram shows the outlines of the solution of the problem. If
9514-417: The employment of centerings of one curve for all the ribs, instead of having separate centerings for the transverse, diagonal wall and intermediate ribs; it was facilitated also by the introduction of the four-centred arch, because the lower portion of the arch formed part of the fan, or conoid, and the upper part could be extended at pleasure with a greater radius across the vault. These ribs were often cut from
9648-472: The end of the 18th century, it had grown to hold 366 rooms. Since then, many small structures and new rooms have been continuously added onto the fabric of the old building. The northeastern corner of the building notably incorporates the substantial remains of a large Byzantine stone tower, though there is still some dispute as to its origin. Known as the Tower of Eirene, it originally stood 27 meters tall and
9782-494: The end of the 8th century B.C. Keystone vaults were built. However, monumental temple buildings of the pharaonic culture in the Nile Valley did not use vaults, since even the huge portals with widths of more than 7 meters were spanned with cut stone beams. Amongst the earliest known examples of any form of vaulting is to be found in the neolithic village of Khirokitia on Cyprus . Dating from c. 6000 BCE ,
9916-513: The forestalling – always by European merchants – of the raw materials needed to produce goods in the Empire's closed economy , were factors which caused the Market's decline. By 1850, rents in Bedesten were ten times lower than two to three decades before. Moreover, the birth of a West-oriented bourgeoisie and the commercial success of Western products pushed the merchants belonging to the minorities ( Greek , Armenian , Jewish ) into moving out of
10050-404: The four arches rest. Having obtained a circle for the base of the dome, it is not necessary that the upper portion of the dome should spring from the same level as the arches, or that its domical surface should be a continuation of that of the pendentive. The first and second dome of the Hagia Sophia apparently fell down, so that Justinian determined to raise it, possibly to give greater lightness to
10184-416: The goods on sale. At that time we know from European travelers that the Grand Bazaar had a square plan, with two perpendicular main roads crossing in the middle and a third road running along the outer perimeter. In the Bazaar there were 67 roads (each bearing the name of the sellers of a particular good), several squares used for the daily prayers, 5 mosques, 7 fountains, 18 gates which were opened each day in
10318-540: The great advance in the science of vaulting shown in this church owed something to the eastern tradition of dome vaulting seen in the Assyrian domes, which are known to us only by the representations in the bas-relief from Nimrud, because in the great water cisterns in Istanbul, known as the Basilica Cistern and Bin bir direk (cistern with a thousand and one columns), we find the intersecting groin vaults of
10452-523: The great dimensions of the vault, it was found necessary to introduce transverse ribs, which were required to give greater strength. Similar transverse ribs are found in Henry VII 's chapel and in the Divinity School at Oxford , where a new development presented itself. One of the defects of the fan vault at Gloucester is the appearance it gives of being half sunk in the wall; to remedy this, in
10586-399: The groins more complicated. This would seem to have led to a change of system and to the introduction of a new feature, which completely revolutionized the construction of the vault. Hitherto the intersecting features were geometrical surfaces, of which the diagonal groins were the intersections, elliptical in form, generally weak in construction and often twisting. The medieval builder reversed
10720-468: The immense wealth present in the Bazaar over the centuries—as an English traveller recorded as late as c. 1870, a tour of the inner Bedesten could easily ruin a few Rothschild families —theft occurred extremely rarely. The most important such incident happened in 1591, when 30,000 gold coins ( Turkish : Altın ) were stolen in the old Bedesten. The theft shocked the whole of Istanbul, the Bazaar remained closed for two weeks and people were tortured, until
10854-615: The increased weight of the Greek, Armenian and Jews merchants in the bazaar's trade. Each guild had a financial department which collected a moderate monthly fee (some silver coins ; Turkish : Kuruş ) from the members and administered it taking care of the needs of each associated person. The guilds lost increasingly their importance during the Tanzimat period, and were abolished in 1913, being replaced by an association of Bazaar merchants. Nowadays, there are several merchant associations in
10988-478: The individual parts of the bazaar and the streets got official names. The last fires of bazaar happened in 1943 and 1954, and the related restorations were finished on 28 July 1959. The last restoration of the complex took place in 1980. On that occasion, advertising posters around the market were also removed. The Iç Bedesten has a rectangular plan (43.30 m x 29.50 m). Two rows of stone piers, four in each row, sustain three rows of bays, five in each row. Each bay
11122-600: The inner is structural. Baltasar Neumann , in his baroque churches, perfected light-weight plaster vaults supported by wooden frames. These vaults, which exerted no lateral pressures, were perfectly suited for elaborate ceiling frescoes. In St Paul's Cathedral in London there is a highly complex system of vaults and faux-vaults. The dome that one sees from the outside is not a vault, but a relatively light-weight wooden-framed structure resting on an invisible – and for its age highly original – catenary vault of brick, below which
11256-402: The intermediate piers of the aisles being of much smaller dimensions. In England sexpartite vaults exist at Canterbury (1175) (set out by William of Sens ), Rochester (1200), Lincoln (1215), Durham (east transept ), and St. Faith's chapel , Westminster Abbey . In the earlier stage of rib vaulting, the arched ribs consisted of independent or separate voussoirs down to the springing;
11390-411: The introduction of the pointed arch for the transverse and wall ribs – the pointed arch had long been known and employed, on account of its much greater strength and of the less thrust it exerted on the walls. When employed for the ribs of a vault, however narrow the span might be, by adopting a pointed arch, its summit could be made to range in height with the diagonal rib; and, moreover, when utilized for
11524-430: The larger and more centrally-located Valide Han. By the late 19th century, many rich Iranian merchant families held their offices here. Iranian Shi'a rituals such as celebrations of ' Ashura were also able to take place in the main courtyard of the han , where a private mosque also served the community. Thanks to the preeminence of the trade route between Tabriz and Istanbul in particular, Iranian Azerbaijanis made up
11658-632: The late vaulting of the entrance gateways to the colleges. Fan vaulting is peculiar to England, the only example approaching it in France being the pendant of the Lady-chapel at Caudebec-en-Caux , in Normandy. In France, Germany, and Spain the multiplication of ribs in the 15th century led to decorative vaults of various kinds, but with some singular modifications. Thus, in Germany, recognizing that
11792-576: The level of the transverse arches and of the wall ribs, and thus gave the appearance of a dome to the vault, such as may be seen in the nave of Sant'Ambrogio, Florence . To meet this, at first the transverse and wall ribs were stilted, or the upper part of their arches was raised, as in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes at Caen , and the Abbey of Lessay , in Normandy . The problem was ultimately solved by
11926-511: The main ribs, and were employed chiefly as decorative features, as, for instance, in the Liebfrauenkirche (1482) of Mühlacker , Germany. One of the best examples of Lierne ribs exists in the vault of the oriel window of Crosby Hall, London . The tendency to increase the number of ribs led to singular results in some cases, as in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral , where the ordinary diagonal ribs become mere ornamental mouldings on
12060-403: The majority of the community and were specialized in import trades such as carpets and silk . Today the han is severely dilapidated but still partly occupied by offices and businesses, though the occupants are all Turkish rather than of Iranian origin. The Iranian mosque in the middle of the main courtyard still continues to serve as a Shi'a mosque connected to the Iranian community, but it
12194-585: The market during the Ottoman age was the total lack of restaurants. The absence of women in the social life and the nomadic conventions in the Turkish society made the concept of restaurant alien. Merchants brought their lunch in a food box called sefertas , and the only food on sale was simple dishes such as doner kebab , tavuk göğsü (a dessert prepared with chicken breast, milk sugar and rose water sprinkled on it) and Turkish coffee. These simple dishes were prepared and served in small two-story kiosks placed in
12328-609: The market the only place in town where the ladies could go relatively easily (and this circumstance made the place especially interesting for the Europeans who visited the city), but—especially from the Tanzimat age on—it was also the only public place where the average citizen had a chance to meet the members of the Imperial Harem and of the Court casually. The Bazaar's merchants were organized in guilds. In order to establish
12462-520: The middle of a road. The most famous among these kiosks is the one—still extant but not functioning any more—placed at the crossing of Halıcılar Caddesi and Acı Çesme Caddesi . It is alleged that Sultan Mahmud II came there often in disguise to eat his pudding. The Bazaar was in the Ottoman Age the place where the Istanbullu (the inhabitants of the city) could see each other. Not only was
12596-556: The money was found hidden under a floor matting. The culprit was a young Persian musk seller. Thanks to the intercession of the Sultan Murad III he was executed by hanging and not by torture. Right during the westernization of Ottoman society, the Grand Bazaar became an obligatory topos of the romantic literature. We owe descriptions of the Bazaar in the middle of the 19th century to writers such as Edmondo De Amicis and Théophile Gautier . Another peculiarity of
12730-425: The morning and closed in the evening. Around 1638 the Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi gave us the most important historical description of the Bazaar and of its customs. The number of shops amounted to 3,000, plus 300 located in the surrounding han s, large caravanserais with two or three stories round a porticoed inner courtyard, where goods could be stored and merchants could be lodged. In that period one tenth of
12864-427: The neighbourhood ( mahalle ) bearing the same name ( Kapalıçarşı ). It stretches roughly from west to east between the mosques of Beyazit and of Nuruosmaniye . The Bazaar can easily be reached from Sultanahmet and Sirkeci by trams (Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı stop). The construction of the future Grand Bazaar's core started during the winter of 1455/56, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and
12998-403: The octagon and consequently intersect one another, reducing the central opening to 97 feet (30 m) in diameter, and, by the weight of the masonry they carry, serving as counterpoise to the thrust of the dome, which is set back so as to leave a passage about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide round the interior. The internal diameter of the dome is 124 feet (38 m), its height 175 feet (53 m) and
13132-448: The old book market; and the flea market. This kind of organization disappeared gradually, although nowadays a concentration of the same business along certain roads can be observed again: Actually, the main reason of concentrating the trade in one place was to provide the highest security against theft, fire and uprising. The goods in the Bedesten were guaranteed against everything except turmoil. Gates were always closed at night, and
13266-533: The old gate and the Kütkculer Kapi were demolished. Among all the han s which belonged to the Market, many were left outside, and only nine remained enclosed in the structure. In 1914 the Sandal Bedesten, whose handlers of textile goods had been ruined by the European competition, was acquired by the city of Istanbul and, starting one year later, was used as an auction house, mainly for carpets . In 1927
13400-427: The only change being the occasional substitution of the pointed barrel vault, adopted not only on account of its exerting a less thrust, but because, as pointed out by Fergusson (vol. ii. p. 46), the roofing tiles were laid directly on the vault and a less amount of filling in at the top was required. The continuous thrust of the barrel vault in these cases was met either by semicircular or pointed barrel vaults on
13534-443: The pointed arch rib took place at Cefalù Cathedral and pre-dated the abbey of Saint-Denis . Whilst the pointed rib-arch is often seen as an identifier for Gothic architecture, Cefalù is a Romanesque cathedral whose masons experimented with the possibility of Gothic rib-arches before it was widely adopted by western church architecture. Besides Cefalù Cathedral, the introduction of the pointed arch rib would seem to have taken place in
13668-420: The process, and set up the diagonal ribs first, which were utilized as permanent centres, and on these he carried his vault or web, which henceforward took its shape from the ribs. Instead of the elliptical curve which was given by the intersection of two semicircular barrel vaults, or cylinders, he employed the semicircular arch for the diagonal ribs; this, however, raised the centre of the square bay vaulted above
13802-594: The reign of king Sennacherib they were used to construct aqueducts, such as those at Jerwan . In the provincial city Dūr-Katlimmu they were used to created vaulted platforms. The tradition of their erection, however, would seem to have been handed down to their successors in Mesopotamia , viz. to the Sassanians , who in their palaces in Sarvestan and Firouzabad built domes of similar form to those shown in
13936-488: The rib was no longer a necessary constructive feature, they cut it off abruptly, leaving a stump only; in France, on the other hand, they gave still more importance to the rib, by making it of greater depth, piercing it with tracery and hanging pendants from it, and the web became a horizontal stone paving laid on the top of these decorated vertical webs. This is the characteristic of the great Renaissance work in France and Spain; but it soon gave way to Italian influence, when
14070-442: The ribs of the annular vault , as in the aisle round the apsidal termination of the choir, it was not necessary that the half ribs on the outer side should be in the same plane as those of the inner side; for when the opposite ribs met in the centre of the annular vault, the thrust was equally transmitted from one to the other, and being already a broken arch the change of its direction was not noticeable. The first introduction of
14204-425: The ribs struck from four centres have their springing 57 feet (17 m) from the floor of the hall. The Jumma Musjid dome was of smaller dimensions, on a square of 70 feet (21 m) with a diameter of 57 feet (17 m), and was carried on piers only instead of immensely thick walls as in the tomb; but any thrust which might exist was counteracted by its transmission across aisles to the outer wall. The Muqarnas
14338-398: The same height, or they formed smaller intersections in the lower part of the vault; in both of these cases, however, the intersections or groins were twisted, for which it was very difficult to form a centering, and, moreover, they were of disagreeable effect: though every attempt was made to mask this in the decoration of the vault by panels and reliefs modelled in stucco . A rib vault
14472-477: The same stones as the webs, with the entire vault being treated as a single jointed surface covered in interlocking tracery. The earliest example is perhaps the east walk of the cloister at Gloucester , with its surface consisting of intricately decorated panels of stonework forming conical structures that rise from the springers of the vault. In later examples, as in King's College Chapel , Cambridge, on account of
14606-545: The same time), and the Kürkçü Han (the oldest surviving han in the city, completed in 1467). (See also: Ottoman architectural decoration ) Grand Bazaar, Istanbul The Grand Bazaar ( Turkish : Kapalıçarşı , meaning ‘Covered Market’; also Büyük Çarşı , meaning ‘Grand Market’ ) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on
14740-499: The shops of the city were concentrated in the market and around it. For all that, at that time the market was not yet covered. Recurrent calamities, fires and earthquakes hit the Grand Bazaar. The first fire occurred in 1515; another in 1548. Other fires ravaged the complex in 1588, 1618 (when the Bit Pazarı was destroyed), 1645, 1652, 1658, 1660 (on that occasion the whole city was devastated), 1687, 1688 (great damage occurred to
14874-469: The shorter longitudinal arches. The curvatures of these bounding arches were apparently used as the basis for the web centrings , which was created in the form of two intersecting tunnels as though each web was an arch projected horizontally in three dimensions. The earliest example is thought to be over a small hall at Pergamum , in Asia Minor , but its first employment over halls of great dimensions
15008-504: The structure aligned with the street outside. To the north is the main central courtyard, and north of this is a smaller, rectangular courtyard which is sometimes referred to as the Küçük Valide Han (the "Small" Valide Han). The main building has two stories; the ground floor was originally dedicated to housing camels and horses, while the upper floor was used as lodging for merchants and wholesale offices. These are accessed via
15142-437: The structure, but mainly in order to obtain increased light for the interior of the church. This was effected by piercing it with forty windows – the effect of which, as the light streaming through these windows, gave the dome the appearance of being suspended in the air. The pendentive which carried the dome rested on four great arches, the thrust of those crossing the church being counteracted by immense buttresses which traversed
15276-399: The surface of an intersected pointed barrel vault, and again in the cloisters, where the introduction of the fan vault , forming a concave-sided conoid , returned to the principles of the Roman geometrical vault. This is further shown in the construction of these fan vaults, for although in the earliest examples each of the ribs above the tas-de-charge was an independent feature, eventually it
15410-404: The thrust of these intermediate ribs a ridge rib was required, and the prolongation of this rib to the wall rib hid the junction of the web at the summit, which was not always very sightly, and constituted the ridge rib. In France, on the other hand, the web courses were always laid horizontally, and they are therefore of unequal height, increasing towards the diagonal rib. Each course also was given
15544-577: The top of the East Gate ( Kuyumcular Kapısı) ) of the Bedesten has been used by several scholars as proof that the edifice was a Byzantine structure. In a market near the Bedesten, named in Turkish Esir Pazarı , the slave trade was active, a use also carried over from Byzantine times. Other important markets in the vicinity were the second-hand market ( Turkish : Bit Pazarı ), the "Long Market" ( Uzun Çarşı ), corresponding to
15678-615: The traditional image of a roof took precedence over the vault. The separation between interior and exterior – and between structure and image – was to be developed very purposefully in the Renaissance and beyond, especially once the dome became reinstated in the Western tradition as a key element in church design. Michelangelo 's dome for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, as redesigned between 1585 and 1590 by Giacomo della Porta , for example, consists of two domes of which, however, only
15812-502: The two Bedesten were covered with vaults. Despite that, other fires ravaged the complex in 1750 and 1791. The quake of 1766 caused more damages, which were repaired by the Court Chief Architect ( Hassa Baş Mimarı ) Ahmet a year later. The 19th-century growth of the textile industry in western Europe, introduction of mass production methods, the capitulations signed between the Empire and many European countries, and
15946-475: The two Bedestens – the shoe market ( Turkish : Pabuççular Pazarı ), where thousands of shoes of different colors (Ottoman sumptuary laws prescribed yellow shoes for Muslims, blue for Greek Orthodox, black for Jews and red for Armenians) were on display on high shelves; the spice and herbs market (later concentrated in the Egyptian Bazaar ), which stood near the jewelers; the armour and weapon market;
16080-517: The two buildings just quoted, the complete conoid is detached and treated as a pendant . The vault of the Basilica of Maxentius , completed by Constantine, was the last great work carried out in Rome before its fall, and two centuries pass before the next important development is found in the Church of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) at Constantinople . It is probable that the realization of
16214-605: The upkeep of the Çinili Mosque she had founded earlier in Üsküdar , the Asian district of Istanbul, through the use of the usual waqf system. In the 19th century the building was inhabited by, and associated with, the Iranian merchant community. An Iranian presence in the city had long existed thanks to Istanbul's position in the Silk Road and due to invasions and political upheaval which had displaced migrants from Iran. By
16348-491: The use of centering. Examples have been found in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia dating to the 2nd and 3rd millennium BCE, which were set in gypsum mortar . A barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault and resembles a barrel or tunnel cut lengthwise in half. The effect is that of a structure composed of continuous semicircular or pointed sections. The earliest known examples of barrel vaults were built by
16482-484: The vault from the inside was the same that one saw from the outside), the European architects of the Middle Ages protected their vaults with wooden roofs. In other words, one will not see a Gothic vault from the outside. The reasons for this development are hypothetical, but the fact that the roofed basilica form preceded the era when vaults begin to be made is certainly to be taken into consideration. In other words,
16616-434: The vault over the great hall at Ctesiphon , where the material employed was fired bricks or tiles of great dimensions, cemented with mortar; but the span was close upon 83 feet (25 m), and the thickness of the vault was nearly 5 feet (1.5 m) at the top, there being four rings of brickwork . Assyrian palaces used pitched-brick vaults, made with sun-dried mudbricks, for gates, subterranean graves and drains. During
16750-411: The wall, so as to bond the whole together much better; and (2) it lessened the span of the vault, which then required a centering of smaller dimensions. As soon as the ribs were completed, the web or stone shell of the vault was laid on them. In some English work each course of stone was of uniform height from one side to the other; but, as the diagonal rib was longer than either the transverse or wall rib,
16884-455: Was a tendency to increase their number, so that in the nave of Exeter Cathedral three intermediate ribs were provided between the wall rib and the diagonal rib. In order to mask the junction of the various ribs, their intersections were ornamented with richly carved bosses, and this practice increased on the introduction of another short rib, known as the lierne, a term in France given to the ridge rib. Lierne ribs are short ribs crossing between
17018-499: Was a tendency to raise the centres of these vaults, which became slightly domical; in all these cases centering was employed. One good example of the fan vault is that over the staircase leading to the hall of Christ Church, Oxford , where the complete conoid is displayed in its centre carried on a central column. This vault, not built until 1640, is an example of traditional workmanship, probably in Oxford transmitted in consequence of
17152-693: Was already known to the Egyptians and Assyrians and was introduced into the building practice of the West by the Etruscans. The Romans in particular developed vault construction further and built barrel, cross and dome vaults. Some outstanding examples have survived in Rome, e.g. the Pantheon and the Basilica of Maxentius. Brick vaults have been used in Egypt since the early 3rd millennium BC. widely used and from
17286-405: Was devoted to the trade of luxury goods, above all textiles. Moreover, the Bedesten's Mahzen were also used as safes. The building can be accessed through four gates: The Sandal Bedesten has also a rectangular plan (40.20 m × 42.20 m), with 12 stone piers bearing 20 bays surmounted by brick domes with blind drum. In this case shops are carved only in the outer walls. In both edifices, each bay
17420-479: Was found easier to carve them and the web out of the solid stone, so that the rib and web were purely decorative and had no constructional or independent functions. This form of vaulting is found in English late Gothic in which the vault is constructed as a single surface of dressed stones, with the resulting conoid forming an ornamental network of blind tracery. The fan vault would seem to have owed its origin to
17554-458: Was named in Turkish dolap , meaning 'stall'. The most precious merchandise was not on display, but kept in cabinets. Only clothes were hung in long rows, with a picturesque effect. A prospective client could sit in front of the dealer, talk with him and drink a tea or a Turkish coffee , in a relaxed way. At the end of the day, each stall was closed with drapes. Another peculiarity was the complete lack of advertising. Moreover, as everywhere in
17688-590: Was part of a broader initiative to stimulate economic prosperity in Istanbul. Sultan Mehmed II had an edifice erected devoted to the trading of textiles and jewels near his palace in Constantinople. It was named Cevâhir Bedestan ("Bedesten of Gems") and was also known as Bezzâzistan-ı Cedîd ("New Bedesten") in Ottoman Turkish . The word bedesten is adapted from the Persian word bezestan , derived from bez ("cloth"), and means "bazaar of
17822-411: Was rarely required for the building of the web, a template (Fr. cerce ) being employed to support the stones of each ring until it was complete. In Italy, Germany and Spain the French method of building the web was adopted, with horizontal courses and a domical form. Sometimes, in the case of comparatively narrow compartments, and more especially in clerestories , the wall rib was stilted, and this caused
17956-432: Was reached in Hagia Sophia, for although it formed the model on which all subsequent Byzantine churches were based, so far as their plan was concerned, no domes approaching the former in dimensions were even attempted. The principal difference in some later examples is that which took place in the form of the pendentive on which the dome was carried. Instead of the spherical spandril of Hagia Sophia, large niches were formed in
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