Tourists visit Suleymaniye mosque not only to enjoy the marvellous architecture of it but to see the tombs of sultan and his beloved wife Roxolana...
This woman born in Western Ukraine was the only Slav lady to climb so high in Ottoman hierarchy. She had been 15 when Tatars kidnapped her. In Istanbul she was bought by Ibrahim Pasha – sultan’s vizier who later presented the girl to his master. The sultan fell in love with Anastasia (her original name), and claimed her to be his major wife.
Hence, the buoyant girl started to transform into artful cruel Empress... Still being joyous and cute with the sultan, of course...
Turks remember her for her cruelty. Well, this is not that amazing. Why should she treat Turks well having been kidnapped and sold on an Istanbul bazaar like so much a cow? Roxolana did her best to have Ibrahim Pasha beheaded. In fact, she initiated executions of many Turkish noblemen...
However, it is her who ordered to demolish the slavery bazaar and built a mosque, a school, and a poor-house in its place. The mosque, and the hospital founded inside of the poor-house still have the name of Haseki (Turks named Roxolana so). So does the surrounding district.
"But where’s she herself?" tourists ask seeing no tomb inside the mosque.
Well, together with her beloved sultan, she lies in a little mausoleum built by very Sinan the Architect.
... It is dark inside but the tomb of the sultan and his beautiful Slav lady are quite visible due to the gold glistening on the carpets that cover the tomb. Their bodies are underground. Stone tombs covered by carpets and decorated by sultan flags stand on them. It is always crowded yet very silent here. Roxolana and Suleyman are together even after their deaths...
INFORMATION
Suleiman I (Ottoman Turkish: Sulayman, Turkish: Süleyman; almost always Kanuni Sultan Süleyman in Turkish) (November 6, 1494 – September 5/6, 1566), was the tenth and longest-serving Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1520 to 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the Islamic world, as the Lawgiver (in Turkish Kanuni; Arabic:?, al?Qanuni), deriving from his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system. Suleiman became the pre-eminent monarch of 16th century Europe, presiding over the apogee of the Ottoman Empire's military, political and economic power. Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies to conquer the Christian strongholds of Belgrade, Rhodes, and most of Hungary before his conquests were checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. He annexed most of the Middle East in his conflict with the Persians and large swathes of North Africa as far west as Algeria. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.
At the helm of an expanding empire, Suleiman personally instituted legislative changes relating to society, education, taxation and criminal law. His canonical law (or the Kanuns) fixed the form of the empire for centuries after his death. Not only was Suleiman a distinguished poet and goldsmith in his own right; he also became a great patron of culture, overseeing the golden age of the Ottoman Empire's artistic, literary and architectural development. In a break with Ottoman tradition, Suleiman married a harem girl who became Hurrem Sultan, whose intrigues in the court and power over the Sultan have become as famous as Suleiman himself. Their son, Selim II, succeeded Suleiman following his death in 1566 after 46 years of rule.
ХХХ
Not only was Pergam the starting and the finishing point of our trip. It also was the highest of it.
Imagine a theatre with its seats on a mountain sides. This is the ancient theatre of Pergam located close to a little Dionysus temple. Luckily, this theatre, positioned almost vertically – is so well-preserved.
"Pergam is a very old kingdom," the guides say, "which was founded where Alexander the Great’s Empire fell."
To-day, observing the ruins of Pergam palaces and its marvelous unique theatre we can feel relieved that Pergam subsided to Rome. If not so, we would never see any of its beauties...
Pergam tour takes 3-5 hours depending on your age and physical condition. Well, it is worth it! The only thing a tourist must not do here is moving-off too far from the guide. The point is the landslides that are common enough. Guides know well how to avoid them. Therefore, Pergam can be referred to as the place for group tours only. Good enough, because in this case you will always have the ones to share your impressions...
As for the impressions, you well get a whole lot of them! Maybe, only the famous Artemis Temple burned by the famous madman can be compared to Pergam regarding the emotions it can waken... So, visit the things and be sure, they are not prone to being forgotten in any case...
INFORMATION
The Temple of Artemis (Greek: ?ρτεμ?σιον Artemision, Latin: Artemisium), also known less precisely as Temple of Diana, was a temple dedicated to Artemis completed in its most famous phase, around 550 BC at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey) under the Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian Empire. All but nothing remains of the temple, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Temple of Artemis was not the first on its site, where evidence of a sanctuary dates as early as the Bronze Age.
The temple was a 120-year project started by Croesus of Lydia. It was described by Antipater of Sidon, who compiled a list of the Seven Wonders:
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught (anything) so grand".
Turkey tour was developed by Adriyatik Tourism.
Author appreciates Adriyatik Tourism for their assistance and organization of the travel.
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