Guide
The tomb of Mehmed II stands in front of the Fatih Mosque, in the complex he had built for himself between 1463 and 1470. The mosque gave its name to the district, and the complex around it — medrese, hospital, hospice, soup kitchen, caravanserai, bath, primary school, library and the tombs — is spread over 108,000 square metres.
Beside the sultan's tomb is that of his wife Gülbahar Hatun. From the beginning of the twentieth century the ground in front of the mosque holding these two tombs became a graveyard, and further tombs were built there for figures of the state, among them Gazi Osman Paşa.
The complex kept growing after its founder. Mahmud I added a library at the south-west corner of the mosque in 1742, and Nakşidil Valide Sultan, the mother of Mahmud II, had a small complex of her own — tomb, fountain and primary school — built on its southern edge in 1817.
