The Tombs of Süleyman and Hürrem
Why is it significant?
Step into the walled garden behind the mosque, among the tilted gravestones with their carved turbans, and you will see two octagonal tombs. The large one belongs to Süleyman. The smaller one, a few steps away, belongs to the woman who changed his life.
Key Facts
| Place | The Tombs of Süleyman and Hürrem |
|---|---|
| Address | Süleymaniye, Prof. Sıddık Sami Onar Caddesi, 34116 Fatih/İstanbul, Türkiye |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.01570, 28.96470 |
| Part of Walk | Sinan's City: Istanbul from the Grand Bazaar to Süleymaniye |
| Generated | Generated |
Step into the walled garden behind the mosque, among the tilted gravestones with their carved turbans, and you will see two octagonal tombs. The large one belongs to Süleyman. The smaller one, a few steps away, belongs to the woman who changed his life.
She was born in Ruthenia, in what is now Ukraine, and was taken captive in a raid as a girl, then sold into the imperial harem. The Ottomans called her Hürrem, the joyful one. Europe called her Roxelana. Süleyman did something no sultan had done for generations: he freed her and married her. Ambassadors' reports describe a sharp political mind, and the letters the couple exchanged are full of poetry.
Look inside her tomb if the door is open. The walls are covered with İznik tiles, tulips and carnations, cypresses and blossoming branches, a garden of paradise in glazed clay. She died in 1558, a year after the mosque was completed, and Sinan built her tomb first. So she was the one who waited for him.
Süleyman died in 1566, on campaign, during the siege of Szigetvár in Hungary. His death was kept secret for weeks so that the army would not panic, and according to tradition his heart and internal organs were buried near the battlefield. His body came home to this tomb. Inside lie also his daughter Mihrimah and two later sultans, Süleyman II and Ahmed II.
Their story has a dark side, too. Hürrem has been blamed for centuries for the execution of Süleyman's eldest son, Mustafa, in 1553. Historians still argue how much of that is fact and how much is the gossip of foreign courts. Let the garden keep its secrets. Now leave by the corner gate and walk a few steps to the street corner, where the man who built all of this asked to be buried, just outside the walls.