Mihrişah Valide Sultan Tomb

Mihrişah Valide Sultan, of Georgian origin and daughter of a Georgian Orthodox priest, was known in the palace as the “Georgian Beauty.” As the chief consort of Sultan Mustafa III, Mihrişah Sultan gave birth to Şah Sultan in 1761 and to her son, Sultan Selim III, in 1762.
Upon her son’s ascension to the throne, she moved from the Old Palace and assumed the title of Valide Sultan. She was a devout, charitable woman and a member of the Mevlevi Sufi Order. She particularly loved the Eyüp district and spent her summers there.
She left behind many charitable works: the Humbaracılar Kışlası Mosque (1793), the Silahdar Yusuf Pasha Fountain in Kağıthane (1794), fountains in Eminönü and Beşiktaş, the school across from her tomb, the restoration of the Kasımpaşa Mevlevihane, and the mosque, fountain, and school in the Levent Farm estate. She established charitable foundations (waqfs) for these projects.
Known for her benevolence, elegance, and grace, Mihrişah Sultan struggled with illness in her later years. In addition to consulting physicians, she also sought help from Hallaç Baba. She died on 16 October 1805 at Topkapı Palace and was buried in her own tomb, which she had commissioned in Edirnekapı, with a grand funeral ceremony.

Construction Year: 1793

Ordered by: Mihrişah Valide Sultan

Architect: Mimar Kethüdası Arif Ağa

Prominent Features:

A prime example of Turkish Baroque architecture, the tomb was built in 1793 together with an imaret, under the chief architect Mimar Kethüdası Arif Ağa.
Above the marble courtyard gate is the Qur’anic verse “Every soul shall taste death (Zaikat’ül-mevt),” flanked by medallions containing the declaration of faith (kalima al-tawhid). On both sides of the gate are two marble columns, with an inscription and small lamb-shaped fountains between them. This leads to a colonnaded portico with nine marble columns and eight domes; at the end of the portico is a fountain without an inscription.
In front of the tomb entrance is another portico supported by eight marble columns, with barrel vaults on either side and a central dome decorated with painted ornaments.
The tomb building has twelve oval-faced marble façades. Each façade features upper and lower windows flanked by slender columns—those below are made of ‘silah’ marble, those above of pink marble. The lower windows are covered with cast iron grilles. The dome is single and grand in scale. Qur’anic inscriptions and medallions above the windows were penned by the calligrapher Mahmud Celaleddin Efendi.
Buried within the tomb are Mihrişah Valide Sultan, Hatice Sultan, Beyhan Sultan, Refet Kadın, and Perestu Kadın, the spiritual and adoptive mother of Sultan Abdülhamid II and the last Valide Sultan.