Belgeler Işığında Gülnuş Emetullah Sultan’ın Galata Yağtırdığı Çeşmeler ve Su yolları

Abstract

After the fire of 1696, Galata, the reputed district of Istanbul for its dominantly non-Muslim dwellers, has seen a spectacular change in its social and religious structure. San Francisco Church was not allowed to be rebuilt and Gülnuş Valide Sultan built her mosque together with a fountain for public use. In the following years, Gülnuş Sultan continued the quest for abundant running sweat water for the new Muslim inhabitants populating the surroundings of her mosque as well as existing nonmuslim dwellers. In total, she financed the building of three new fountains, two repairs and new water supply systems, which saved the people of Galata during hot summers. In this paper, in the light of unpublished archival documents, the construction process of these fountains and water supply systems will be investigated. These pious endowments of Gülnuş Sultan also served as a tool of demographic change. Therefore this paper reveals both the materialization of these buildings and their significance.