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From the Madrasas of Süleymaniye to the Streets of Vefa
Cultural

From the Madrasas of Süleymaniye to the Streets of Vefa

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Say Süleymaniye and most people think first of the mosque's dome, yet what makes this hill truly interesting is the small city built around the mosque.

Fatih, İstanbul
Cultural
Radar Editör
September 24, 2026

About Trip

Say Süleymaniye and most people think first of the mosque's dome, yet what makes this hill truly interesting is the small city built around the mosque. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam notes that the complex spreads over a wide area with its madrasas, its public kitchen, its tombs and the network of streets connecting them, and that from a distance the dominance of the dome makes it easy to miss the complex altogether. This outing is not about the mosque itself but about the madrasas, the rows of shops, the architect's tomb and the streets running west from the hill into the Vefa district. It ends at a shop that has been making boza since 1876.

Getting there

The metro is the easiest option. Leave the Yenikapı to Hacıosman line at Vezneciler-İstanbul Üniversitesi station and walk to Süleymaniye behind the main building of Istanbul University. According to TDV, the complex was built on part of the grounds of the Old Palace, which stretched from Beyazıt towards Vefa; today the university campus lies within the same grounds. If you come by tram, get off at Laleli-İstanbul Üniversitesi and walk in the same direction. The slopes are short but steep, so wear comfortable shoes.

A city on a hill

According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the foundations of the complex built by Mimar Sinan in the name of Süleyman the Magnificent were laid in 1550; the encyclopedia says 13 June 1550 can be taken as the day of the ceremony. The main dome was closed on 16 August 1557 and the mosque opened on 15 October 1557, a Friday. On roughly sixty dönüms of land there were madrasas teaching at different levels, a school of hadith, a medical school and hospital, a school for Quran reciters, a primary school, a public kitchen, an inn, a bath, the architect's own tomb and a great many shops. Evliya Çelebi wrote that, with all its buildings, the complex was covered by "a thousand domes" and that 3,000 people worked here.

The encyclopedia also describes how the hill looked when the mosque opened. Süleymaniye rose among the buildings of the complex spread around it, among tiled-roofed houses no more than three storeys high and among cypresses. Protecting this fabric still matters today. The Süleymaniye quarter was placed under protection in 1980 and 1981 and in 1985 became one of the four zones inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Historic Areas of Istanbul.

If you step into the mosque courtyard, choose a time outside prayer hours; wear clothing that covers shoulders and knees, women should cover their hair, take your shoes off inside and keep quiet.

The madrasas and the library

West of the mosque stand two madrasas that mirror each other. According to TDV, the Evvel and Sani madrasas are near-square buildings of dressed stone, designed side by side and symmetrically, with a narrow street left between them. Today they serve as the Süleymaniye Library. According to the encyclopedia's entry on the library, books from foundation libraries in various parts of Istanbul were gathered here, and the Süleymaniye Public Library came into being in 1918. As you walk down the narrow street between the two madrasas, look at the rhythm in which the domed rooms line up on the outside.

East of the mosque, on the slope facing the Golden Horn, are the Salis and Rabi madrasas. These two buildings were built in steps on the sloping ground, and their domes descend like a staircase. TDV notes that because of the slope, the lower floor of each madrasa holds a further small madrasa of a single row of rooms, known as the Mülazimler Madrasa. From the garden northeast of the mosque you see the Golden Horn and the opposite shore beyond the lead-covered domes; this is where you understand why they were placed on the hill with such care.

To the west of the complex, in the corner between the public kitchen and the medical school, lies the hospital. According to TDV, it consists of two rectangular arcaded courtyards side by side, with a pool at the centre of the rear courtyard. The medical school runs west of the mosque as a row of rooms north of the Sani Madrasa. Teaching medicine and treating patients side by side in the same complex turned Süleymaniye into a neighbourhood centre rather than simply a place of worship.

The shops and the architect's tomb

The shops around the complex were part of the plan too. According to TDV, below the primary school, the Evvel and Sani madrasas and the medical school there is a row of vaulted shops gained from the slope of the land, known as the Tiryaki Market. The vaulted shops lined up below the school of hadith on the east side of the mosque are called the Dökmeciler Market.

North of the mosque, at the corner of a small triangular plot between two streets, stand a domed water dispenser and, right behind it, the tomb of Mimar Sinan. According to the encyclopedia, Sinan died some thirty years after the complex was completed and was buried within the bounds of the complex he had built. The tomb resembles a garden pavilion, with arches enclosing a rectangular space and a roof sloping in four directions. The verse inscription on the wall is by Sai Mustafa Çelebi. TDV stresses that there is no other known case of a complex holding the architect's grave alongside the tombs of its founder and his wife.

The wooden houses of Süleymaniye

Walking along Süleymaniye Caddesi, you may notice a timber-fronted mansion with a ground floor and two upper floors above a semi-basement. According to Wikipedia, the İbrahim Efendi Konağı was built in the nineteenth century, demolished between 1945 and 1950 and rebuilt in the 2010s. As no plan of the building survived, the reconstruction was based on typology studies carried out in Süleymaniye, drawing parallels with other wooden mansions in the area. Rising in timber on a masonry base, it has separate women's and men's quarters and a central hall, and today it is used by a unit of Istanbul University. As you look at it, notice the floor heights, window rows and eave lines of the wooden houses around it; once you know the rebuilt house was modelled on these neighbours, the street becomes a kind of open-air archive.

Down to Vefa

West of Süleymaniye the Vefa district begins. According to Wikipedia, Vefa corresponds administratively to today's Molla Hüsrev neighbourhood. The district takes its name, according to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, from Sheikh Muslihuddin Mustafa İbnülvefa, who died in 1491. The mosque built in his name by Mehmed the Conqueror dates originally to 1476 and was repaired in 1757. In the early twentieth century it was pulled down to be rebuilt because it was near collapse, but the First World War prevented the new construction. Today's Şeyh Vefa Mosque was rebuilt in 1990 to 1994 in line with the surviving plans. The tomb, some walls of the madrasa and the fountain of the complex have survived.

Walking through Vefa you will also see the building of Vefa High School. According to Wikipedia, the school was founded in 1872 as the Vefa İdadisi and takes its name from the district where its campus stands.

Kirazlı Mescit Street

In the part of Vefa close to the Bozdoğan Aqueduct runs Kirazlı Mescit Street. The small prayer hall that gives the street its name dates, according to the Kültür Envanteri heritage database, from the sixteenth century and is also known as the Süleyman Mescidi or Karcı Süleyman Mescidi; a fountain and an ablution trough of the same name are recorded nearby. Timber-fronted houses line the street, and here you can take in the district's old fabric at leisure. The street also has a literary memory. According to Wikipedia, when the family of the writer Sait Faik Abasıyanık moved to Istanbul in 1924, they settled at number 7 on Kirazlı Mescit Street near the Bozdoğan Aqueduct.

Close by rises the Bozdoğan Aqueduct. According to TDV, it spans the hollow between the city's third and fourth hills and carried water from outside the city to the main cistern at Beyazıt. Its original construction is uncertain; it is generally attributed to the Roman emperor Valens (364 to 378), which is why it is also known as the Aqueduct of Valens.

Vefa Bozacısı

The last stop is Vefa Bozacısı. According to Wikipedia, the business was founded in 1876. The brothers Sadık and İbrahim, who came from Prizren, first made and sold salep, grape must and boza around Zeyrek, then settled in a shop in Vefa; later generations carried on the business under the same name. Boza is a winter drink made from millet, water and sugar, and according to Wikipedia its season runs from mid-September to mid-May. If you are walking on a cold day, it is hard to find a better place to finish.

Suggested walk

From Vezneciler, walk behind the university to Süleymaniye Caddesi and look at the İbrahim Efendi Konağı. Pass along the street between the Evvel and Sani madrasas west of the mosque, follow the row of shops of the Tiryaki Market and continue to the hospital corner. Then go to the tomb of Mimar Sinan and the water dispenser north of the mosque, and from the northeast garden look out over the domes of the Salis and Rabi madrasas to the Golden Horn. From here go west down to Vefa, wander past the Şeyh Vefa Mosque, Vefa High School and Kirazlı Mescit Street, see the Bozdoğan Aqueduct and finish at Vefa Bozacısı. At a relaxed pace, half a day is enough.

Season and time of day

The Golden Horn view from the northeast garden of Süleymaniye takes on a soft light in the afternoon as the sun moves west. The mosque is busy around Friday midday prayers; weekday mornings are quieter for exploring the complex. Autumn and winter are the best seasons for boza.

Practical notes

  • The Süleymaniye Library is a research library; keep quiet and follow its rules inside.
  • Enter the mosque outside prayer times and in suitable clothing.
  • The streets of the district are steep and some pavements are narrow.
  • Süleymaniye and Vefa are living neighbourhoods; respect residents' privacy when photographing houses.

Sources

Location - From the Madrasas of Süleymaniye to the Streets of Vefa

Trip Info
CityFatih, İstanbul
TypeCultural
DateSeptember 24, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions