Grand Mothers House
The Grand Valide Han is a 17th-century structure located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is situated on Çakmakçılar Yokuşu in the Eminönü district of the Fatih region, opposite Tarakçılar Street.
Although its architecture is unknown, Evliya Çelebi writes that the han was built by Kösem Sultan, mother of Ottoman Sultan Murad IV, on the site of the former Mehmet Paşa Palace, the residence of the chief surgeon of the time. The han was declared a historical heritage site to be protected under the Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Law No. 2863/B, published in the Official Gazette on July 23, 1983. In the third courtyard of the three-courtyard han, there is the Irene Tower, named by Petrus Gyllius and described by Evliya Çelebi as a cihannüma (a type of tower) belonging to the palace. In the middle of the second courtyard is the Iranian mosque.
Kösem Sultan had the Çinili complex built in 1640, which also included the Üsküdar Mosque. About ten years later, she had the Grand Valide Han built to endow its income to this complex. Located in the Eminönü district of Fatih, which was considered Istanbul's commercial center, the han contained places where workers could eat and drink, as well as shops, warehouses, and workshops for textile and metal craftsmen. The increase in labor and diversification of occupations that accompanied the concentration of trade in this area led to various additions being made to the han structure.
