| Until the recent past no neighbourhood of
Istanbul was without its fountains, and if the |
| districts outside the city walls and the villages
along the Bosphorus are included these |
| numbered many hundreds. Here local people
obtained their drinking water, so at all |
| times of day groups of people were to be seen
waiting their turn. The city had several |
| water systems, the largest being the Kırkçeşme
or Forty Fountains. Piping water from |
| springs and constructing fountains were regarded
as among the most honourable acts |
| of charity, and no charge was made for using the
water. Since, like the mosque and . |
| coffee house, fountains served as meeting places
for local people, they played an |
| important social role. Here news and gossip were
exchanged, and flirtations between |
| young people took root and flourished. |
| |
| The oldest fountain to which we can put a date in
the city is that next to Davut Paşa |
| Mosque built in 1485 during the reign of Bayezid
II (1481-1512), and the loveliest is |
| the Ahmed III Fountain which stands before the
Imperial Gate of Topkapı Palace on |
| the site of a former Byzantine fountain known as
Géranion. This was built in 1728/29 |
| by Mehmed Ağa, chief architect to Ahmed III
(1703-1730), whose reign corresponds |
| to a period known as the Tulip Era because of the
popularity of this flower in gardens |
| and as a motif. The fountain is in the form of a
miniature pavilion roofed by a |
| lead-covered central dome and four smaller domes,
which flare out into broad eaves. |
| There are taps in each of its four faces, and at
each corner is a sebil, or kiosk where |
| drinking water was distributed in cups to
passers-by. Encircling the fountain is an |
| inscription band in letters of gold on turquoise
tiles. This inscription is an ode by the |
| poet Seyyit Vehbi praising the fountain and
comparing its water to that of the holy |
| Zemzem well near the Kaaba in Mecca. One of the
loveliest fountains outside the city |
| walls is Tophane Fountain, built in Turkish
rococo style in 1732, during the reign of |
| Mahmud I (1730-1754) by the architect Ahmed Ağa. |
| |
| Originally this fountain stood in the crowded
square beside Tophane quay, but the |
| shoreline here was later filled in, so that it is
now set back from the sea. Another |
| elegant fountain is Saliha Sultan Fountain in
front of Sokollu Mehmed Paşa Mosque |
| which stands at the northern end of the Unkapanı
Bridge in Azapkapı on the Golden |
| Horn. One day when Rabia Gülnuş Valide
Sultan, wife of Mehmed IV (1648-1687) was |
| passing through Azapkapı she saw a small girl
with a broken water jar weeping in front |
| of a street fountain here. To console the child
she placed a coin in her hand, but the |
| child explained that she was crying not over the
jar but because she would not be able |
| to take the water home. Rabia Gülnuş was so
touched by this reply that she adopted the |
| child and brought her up at the palace, devoting
personal attention to her manners and . |
| education. When the girl was old enough, she
married her to her son Mustafa II |
| (1695-1703). Saliha Sultan resolved to build
a fine fountain worthy of her new position as |
| royal wife in place of the one where she had
broken her water jar as a child. However, |
| for some reason this wish was not fulfilled until
1732/33 after her son Mahmud I had |
| acceded to the throne. He commissioned Mustafa Ağa
of Kayseri to build a new and |
| elaborately carved fountain in place of the old
one, and had a new water channel built |
| connecting it to the Taksim line which was
supplied from Topuzlu Reservoir. It has been |
| claimed that the unusual feature of two large
domes over this fountain were inspired by |
| Saliha Sultan's generous breasts. |
| |
| On
the other side of the Bosphorus in Üsküdar is another fountain in
the decorative |
| style
of this period. Üsküdar Fountain was constructed by Ahmed III in
1728/29, but |
| this
has been extensively altered during repairs and renovations and lost
much of its |
| original
character. On the seaward face are lines of poetry by Nedim and
other famous |
| poets
of the time. Behind the small harbour in Kabataş facing Üsküdar
on the European |
| shore
of the Bosphorus is the Vezir Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Fountain dated
1732. This |
| marble
fountain is noted for its intricate carving. Another magnificent
fountain dating |
| from
the Tulip Era is the Bereketzade Fountain near Galata Tower. Built
in 1732 during |
| the
reign of Mahmud I, this provided water for the inhabitants of
Tophane and Kuledibi. |
| Wherever
you are wandering in Istanbul you are likely to come across old
fountains, |
| usually
set into walls, but sometimes in the form of freestanding
structures. Numerous |
| sebils
and a few of the decorative cascading fountains known as selsebils
have also |
| survived.
The latter were used in gardens or sometimes indoors, and were
exquisite |
| works
of art. What a pity it is that such fountains are no longer made to
adorn houses |
| and
gardens. We can only regret that such delightful features of the
past have been |
| discarded
so ruthlessly, instead of evolving them for our pleasure today. |
