Defterdar Nazlı Mahmut Efendi Tomb
About the Person:
- Nazlı Mahmut Efendi was an important statesman who was the head of the Ottoman treasury twice during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.
- He served as treasurer for a total of 12 years between 1537 and 1549, and was reappointed to this position shortly before his death.
- He was also an important name in classical Ottoman calligraphy as a student of Sheikh Hamdullah, one of the leading calligraphers of the period. His identity as a calligrapher is also symbolized by the inkwell motif on the finial of the mosque’s minaret.
About the Tomb:
Construction Year: 1546
Ordered by: Defterdar Nazlı Mahmut Efendi
Architect: Mimar Sinan
Prominent Features:
- The tomb is an open-type building with a square plan located in the mosque’s graveyard.
- The building rises on four marble columns and is surrounded by four segmented arches.
- Above the arches is a dome sitting on an octagonal drum.
- Between the columns, there are 80 cm high marble railings decorated with reliefs with grid motifs.
- The entrance to the tomb is highlighted with a richly decorated marble portal; above the portal is the inscription “Lâ ilâhe illallahü’l-melikü’l-hakku’l-mübîn Muhammedün resûlullah sâdıku’l-va’di’l-emîn “.*
- Inside is the coffin of Defterdar Mahmut Efendi; the headstone has been damaged, only the footstone remains.
- Among the open tombs in Istanbul, it is one of the most elegant examples built in the 16th century.
*“There is no god but Allah, the Openly True King, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the Holder of the True Promise.”
