Mesih Pasha Mosque, Istanbul

Mesih Pasha Camii stands on the Fourth Hill about 400 metres north-west of Fatih Camii; it was built in 1585 for the eunuch Mesih Mehmet Pasha — infamous for cruelty as governor of Egypt — who became grand vezir briefly at ninety under Murat III ¹.

Many authorities credit an unknown architect, but Aptullah Kuran argues convincingly that Davut Ağa built it: Mesih Pasha commissioned Sinan, who handed full responsibility to Davut Ağa, the creative force in Ottoman architecture of the 1580s ². In the courtyard the founder's picturesque open türbe takes the şadırvan's usual central place, so the ablution fountains sit unusually under the domed porticoes; the plan is an octagon inscribed in a square with semidome squinches, but the expected side aisles under the galleries are instead exterior porches opening through huge glazed arches ³. Mihrab and mimber are fine marble works and the tiles are of the best Iznik period ³.

• Source read: Freely, A History of Ottoman Architecture (2011), pp. 332–333 (Mesih Pasha Camii).
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