Nişancı Mehmed Paşa Tomb
About the Person:
- Nişancı Tahirüddin Mehmed Paşa was a prominent Ottoman statesman known for his mastery in administrative writing and legal documentation. He served as reisülküttap and nişancı in the Imperial Council (Divan-ı Hümayun), overseeing the sultan’s tughras and the preparation of legal codes.
- During the reign of Sultan Murad III, he rose multiple times to the rank of vizier.
- A lover of calligraphy, he is known to have personally inscribed the foundation inscriptions of mosques.
- In the 1580s, he commissioned a mosque and complex in Karagümrük, Istanbul, which still bears his name. He passed away in 1594 and was buried in his own tomb.
About the Tomb:
Construction Year: 1580
Ordered by: Nişancı Tahirüddin Mehmed Paşa
Architect: Mimar Davud Ağa
Prominent Features:
- The tomb is octagonal in plan, built from ashlar stone, and covered with a single lead-covered dome.
- The entrance façade features a four-column portico with a red-and-white ablak stone arch above the doorway.
- Inside is a single wooden cenotaph belonging to the Paşa; the tomb’s simple window design and fine stonework are noteworthy.
- Attached to the north façade is a small summer sebil (water dispenser), with a surrounding graveyard and elements of the adjacent complex.
- It stands as a fine example of the “statesman’s tomb” in classical Ottoman funerary architecture.
