Fountain Of Ahmed III (Üsküdar)
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The Fountain of Sultan Ahmed III in Üsküdar () is an 18th-century public water
fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...
built by
Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...
Ahmed III Ahmed III (, ''Aḥmed-i sālis''; was sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at Hacıoğlu Pazarcık, ...
in the Ottoman
rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
architecture and situated in the grand square of
Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...
in
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
, Turkey.


History

Sultan Ahmed III (reigned 1703–1730) commissioned the
sebil A sabil or sebil (; ) is a small kiosk in the Islamic architectural tradition where water is freely dispensed to members of the public by an attendant behind a grilled window. The term is sometimes also used to refer to simple unmanned fountain ...
, a public fountain to provide drinking water for travellers and running water for praying people's ritual washing needs. Completed in 1728–1729, within an era with great importance attached to the construction of many fountains, it was dedicated to the sultan's mother Emetullah Rabia Gülnuş Sultan (1642–1715), who was buried in Üsküdar. The fountain was initially situated directly on the quay at the waterfront of
Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...
to serve travellers crossing the Strait. During the redesigning of the area in 1932–1933, the fountain was dismantled and relocated to the center of the nearby square next to the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque. It underwent two major restorations. In the first one, during its relocation, the broken parts of the fountain were repaired or replaced. The second restoration took place in 1955, when the structure had to be elevated about to match the square's ground level. The fountain stands today on a two-step high platform in İskele Square at the intersection of Paşalimanı Street and Hakimiyetimilliye Street.


Architecture

The fountain was built as a stand-alone structure in the type of a "square fountain" () looking like a monument. It has the form of an octagonal prism with wide four facades and four narrow corner facades. The octagon plan of the fountain at the base turns into a quasi-square form at the top. The square-pyramid formed
hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...
has wide eaves on all sides. The fountain is built by solid white marble with a wooden roof covered by lead sheet. Designed by the court architect
Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...
li Mehmed Ağa in the rococo architectural style of Ottoman Tulip Period (1703–1757), it is adorned with ornamentation. Its design shows similarities with the Fountain of Ahmed III (1729) and the Tophane Fountain (1732). İt features a faucet inside a
lancet arch Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
in the middle of each facade over a
watering trough A watering trough (or artificial watering point) is a man-made or natural receptacle intended to provide drinking water to animals, livestock on farms or ranches or wild animals. History In Australia, the watering trough is established so t ...
to enable for bucket filling, livestock drinking or taking ritual body washing for prayer. The higher-attached faucets over a sink in the four corner facades were designed to spend drinking water for people. In the wall of the main facade, which looks at Bosphorus, there are two semicircular niches on both sides resembling a
mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...
's
mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...
. A number of relief flower motifs as tulips, roses and
chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums ( ), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants in the Asteraceae family. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia, and the center of diversity is in China. Co ...
s in vase adorn the structure. Each of the eight corners of the fountain features a
Solomonic column The Solomonic column, also called barley-sugar column, is a helical column, characterized by a spiraling twisting shaft like a corkscrew. It is not associated with a specific classical order, although most examples have Corinthian or Composite ...
topped with a
Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...
capital. At the top of the corner facades in between the columns,
muqarnas Muqarnas (), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of I ...
, three-dimensional decorations of Islamic architecture, are placed, which transform the octagon plan of the fountain into a square right under the roof. The wooden roof's eaves features carved ornaments over a
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
encircling the entire structure. On each of the four wide facades, the fountain features an inscription in
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...
, which was in use in the Ottoman Empire. The inscriptions on three facades are excerpts from verses of three poets, namely the famous Diwan poet
Nedîm Ahmed Effendi, better known by his ''mahlas'' ('' nom de plume'') Nedîm (Ottoman Turkish: نديم; – 1730), was an Ottoman lyric poet of the Tulip Period. He achieved his greatest fame during the reign of Ahmed III. He was known for his ...
(1681?–1730), Şakir and Kırımlı Mustafa Rahmi (died 1750), while the inscription on the main facade contains verses inspired by both Sultan Ahmed III and his son-in-law,
Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha Nevşehirli Damat Ibrahim Pasha ( 1662 – 1 October 1730) served as Grand Vizier for Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Ahmed III of the Ottoman Empire during the Tulip period. He was also the head of a ruling family which had great influence ...
(1666–1730). The inscription is written in Jeli Thuluth style of
Islamic calligraphy Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of penmanship and calligraphy, in the languages which use Arabic alphabet or the Arabic script#Additional letters used in other languages, alphabets derived from it. It is a highly stylized and struc ...
by Sultan Ahmet III himself, who was also a poet and calligrapher. It was signed as "Ahmed ibn-i Mehmed Han" (Ahmed, the son of
Khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...
Mehmed Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...
). The construction date of the fountain can be calculated from the inscriptions by the Abjad system, which assigns numerical values to Arabic letters for purposes of
numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...
. The calculated value of AH 1141 in
Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...
, which was in use in the Ottoman Empire, corresponds to AD 1728–1729.


See also

* List of fountains in Istanbul


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fountain of Ahmed III in Uskudar Buildings and structures completed in 1729 Fountains in Istanbul Ottoman architecture in Istanbul Rococo architecture in Turkey Üsküdar 1729 establishments in the Ottoman Empire