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CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS ENVIRONS. 19
The first objects that strike the spectator are the six beautiful minarets, with their
elegant and slender forms ascending to an immense height, and seeming as it were to
pierce the clouds with their sharp-pointed cones. Round each run three capitals or galleries for the Muezzim, highly ornamented in fretted arabesque. Above these appears
the majestic edifice swelling into domes and cupolas, and covered wTith light tracery and
fancy fretwork, forming a strong contrast to the comparatively heavy, dark, and dismal
dome of Santa Sophia, which rises at no great distance beside. This juxtaposition
strikes a stranger. He sees with surprise that the genius of a dull and ignorant Turk
should produce an edifice so superior in beauty and elegance to this chef-d'oeuvre of
Grecian art. Architects of that nation had been employed in erecting the imperial
mosque of Mohammed II. and Selim IL, but this of Achmet is exclusively Turkish or
Arabic architecture.
The summit of the edifice is distinguished by thirty cupolas, from whence ascends
the great dome, flanked by four semidomes. The mosque is entered by massive brazen
gates, embossed in high relief, and the exterior presents a view of the dome supported
by four gigantic columns, fluted and filleted, round which are inscribed, in bands,
sentences from the Koran. The walls are richly painted in fresco with more variety
than regularity, and gilded tablets on them every where display Arabic inscriptions.
The light is admitted by windows of stained glass, thickly studded in small compartments, which look exceedingly rich, casting a soothing and a religious, but yet ample light;
for this mosque is distinguished above all others in this respect, that by the construction
and arrangement of the casements, the interior is fully illuminated, which forms a strong
contrast to the dim and doubtful twilight admitted into most other religious edifices of
the East.
Between the pillars is a large circle of wire-suspended lamps, which does not add
to the general effect; globes of glass, ostrich eggs, and other frivolous and mean ornaments, frequently deform the interior of those noble buildings, and mark the genius of
a Turk—at once puerile and magnificent. There is, in other respects, a noble simplicity,
a naked grandeur, well befitting a worship from which all idolatrous representations are
excluded. The interior of a mosque resembles the nave and transept of St. Paul's,
with the exception of its statues—grand and noble by its vastness and vacuity.
The occasion chosen by the artist, in the illustration, exhibits a display of the most
important circumstance that has occurred since the Osmanli established themselves in
Europe. It was the moment when it was to be decided, whether they should remain the
rude and obstinate barbarians that first crossed the Hellespont, or be illumined by the
lights and amalgamated with the nations of Europe, and when the reforming Sultan,
struggling for life and empire, was compelled to have recourse to the last expedient left
him. The janissaries having the whole population of the city entangled in their connexion,
and enlisting all its prejudices on their side, were accumulating such a vast force, as
would soon bear down all opposition: but Mahmoud, at once, determined on that course
which could alone counteract their influence. He ordered the Sandjdk sheriff] or sacred
standard of the Prophet, to be taken from its repository in the imperial treasury. This |
