Valide-i Atik Mosque

Valide-i Atik Camii / Mosque

This complex was built by Nurbanu Valide Sultan, mother of Murad III in Üsküdar to Sinan the architect between 1570-1579. According to narration, Nurbanu Valide Sultan wants to fund a complex to make charity. But it is uncertain where to build this complex. In her dream, on the evening of one of the days when she experienced this indecision, a guardian advised her to leave her scarf from Besiktas and build the complex where the scarf was placed. Following this advice, Nurbanu Sultan built a wonderful work left to this day, the Atik Valide complex, in Toptaşı, one of the dominant locations of Üsküdar.

The complex consisting of mosque, madrasa (college of that time), tekke (lodge), darüşşifa (hospital), darul hadis, darul qurra, hamam (the Turkish bath) sibyan school (kindergarten) and imaret (public kitchen) is considered to be the last full-fledged and intact complex built by architect Sinan.

Most of the complex was first used for military purposes with the establishment of Nizam-i Jedid during the reign of Sultan Selim III. The Darüşşifa building played an important role in the great cholera epidemics of 1865 and 1870, which killed thousands of people. Madrassah was used as a prison for a long time.

After many years of dormancy, the complex was restored and allocated to some institutions like Marmara University and Fatih Sultan Mehmed university.