old building in Atik Valide Kulliyesi, Üsküdar, İstanbul

old building, Atik Valide Kulliyesi, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Validei Atik Külliyesi, Üsküdar, Topbaşı

Validei Atik Külliyesi, Üsküdar, Topbaşı, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

“Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absent-minded. Someone sober will worry about events going badly. Let the lover be.”

Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi

Kulliye view from Validei Atik Mosque, Üsküdar, Toptaşı

Validei Atik Camii, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Külliye, deriving from the Arabic word “kûl” (meaning the whole, all) is a term which designates a complex of buildings, centered around a mosque and managed within a single institution, often based on a vakıf (foundation), and composed of a medrese, a darüşşifa, kitchens, bakery, hammam, other buildings for various benevolent services for the community and further annexed constructions. The tradition of külliye is particularly marked in Turkish architecture within Seljuk, particularly Ottoman Empire and also Timurid architectural legacies.

“All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.”

Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi

minarets of Validei Atik Mosque, Üsküdar

Üsküdar, Validei Atik Camii, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

“You are quaffing drink from a hundred fountains: whenever any of these hundred yields less, your pleasure is diminished. But when the sublime fountain gushes from within you, no longer need you steal from the other fountains.”

Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi

scene of Europe side from Üsküdar’s streets

Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Üsküdar streets

Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Şadırvan (Validei Atik Mosque’s fountain)

Validei Atik Camii, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Validei Atik Camii, Üsküdar, İstanbul

Validei Atik Camii, ÜSküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

hard composition, Validei Atik Mosque, Üsküdar, İstanbul

Validei Atik Camii, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d

Üsküdar, Nurbanu Valide-i Atik Sultan Camii, İstanbul

Validei Atik Camii, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Pentax K10d