Sultan II. Mahmut Tomb

Mahmud II died on 28 June 1839. He was buried in the garden of Esma Sultan Palace in Divanyolu on 1 July and a tent was covered over him. Abdülhalim Efendi, who was the director of Ebniye-i Hassa during the reign of Abdülmecid, was commissioned for the construction of the tomb. In order to complete the construction of the tomb in a short time, he was dismissed from his duty as the director of the ebniye. After the construction of the tomb, which was completed on October 12, 1840, Aldülhalim Efendi was appointed as the director of Ebniye-i Hassa due to this success. There are two round-arched doors on the façade of the complex, which is located in a courtyard with round-arched and meshed windows on the Divanyolu.

The tomb located in the western corner of the complex continues the tradition of 19th century Ottoman dynasty tombs. The facades of this building, which was built in the Empire style, are covered with marble. The octagonal planned tomb is covered with a large dome with an octagonal drum. There is a door on the north façade, and large and high round arched windows on the other façades. The realm on the dome is handled in a form reminiscent of the sun with its radial order. There is a single storey section adjacent to the building to the north. There is a connection to the tomb with the corridor in the middle and there are rooms on each side. The one on the right was later buried.

There are a total of eighteen sarcophagi in the tomb. Some of the people buried here are:

Sultan Mahmud II

Sultan Abdulaziz

Sultan Abdulhamid II

Bezmialem Valide Sultan

Esma Sultan

Atiye Sultan

Hatice Sultan

Durrunev Sultan

Yusuf Izzeddin Effendi

Ms. Rebia Eyub

Some important personalities are buried in the section adjacent to the tomb.

There are about 140 tombs here, including the tombs of Abdülhak Molla, Arif Hikmet Koyunoğlu, the tomb of Ziya Gökalp, the founder of the Union and Progress, İshak Sükuti, calligrapher Abdülfettah Efendi, Çapanzade Agah Efendi, Vienna ambassador Sadullah Pasha, and historian Ata Bey. takes.

The fountain, which is in the structure group of the 2nd Mahmud Tomb, also reflects the understanding of the period. The four public fountains in the form of an overhanging circle are divided by four Tuscan columns and have five windows with rectangular openings.

The fountain located in the corner of the façade of the complex consists of a square prism body on a square base and a sphere at the top. The globe motif is an interesting experiment in terms of reflecting the cultural developments in the first half of the 19th century. The sphere on the fountain, which is approximately 2.5 meters high, was broken into pieces a few years ago and then glued and repaired. At the beginning of 2003, this time the sphere was torn from its place and destroyed.

II. Mahmut did not like the clothes of the sultans before him. What were those big turtlenecks, furs, floor-length skirts, caftans, silver threads, tassels, feathers, big big insignia, all kinds of jewelry made of precious stones? Young Hünkar was in favor of simplification in clothing. He adopted the disguise of the Egyptians, shortened his beard, sought ways to approach the Europeans. He made it mandatory for the officers to wear a long jacket called a setre and trousers.

It was necessary to give up the spruces in the head. Until that time, each class of people had separate sprinkles on their heads. The headdress was the symbol of religion, nationality and profession. Whether a person was a Turk, a Greek, a Jew, a rabbi, a priest, a teacher, a noble, an imbecile, a Rumelian, an Anatolian, a peasant, a fisherman, an infidel or a Muslim could be understood from the headdress. I mean, there was a complete stubble anarchy. People were also very attached to these sprinkles. II. Mahmut was also very uncomfortable with this. First of all, he took off his turban and wore a fez. Everyone was afraid that the Sultan would wear a hat, but he chose the fez. The shari'aists broke the hell out because religion was going out of hand, but later on, the fez became their symbol. Officers began to wear sets, trousers, starched shirts and fez. The soldiers also wore fez on their heads. What about other people? Some of them accepted the fez, and some of them did not give up their old sprinkles. The clothing anarchy continued. Those who didn't wear the fez were said to be "headless." This is where the word unruly came from.

With the madrasa education, people who were hostile to the West, conservative and sharia were growing up. The young Sultan was in favor of a new education system, but he could not suddenly destroy the madrasah education. He declared that primary education was compulsory for the transition to a new order. But how would this obligation be enforced? Where were the schools the children would go to and the teachers who would raise them? At first, this obligation would only be valid for Istanbul, but there were neither schools nor teachers in Istanbul to meet the need. What could he do? 'Rüştiye' at secondary school level in Istanbul

After his attempts to establish a new order against the overlords, Mahmut II also addressed the problem of education. After that, another school called "Mekteb-i Ulumu Edebiye" (Literary Sciences) was established. Scholarships from foundations were provided to those who would study there. The aim was to train knowledgeable civil servants.

II. Mahmut was not satisfied with these, the war called Harbiye.He opened the School of Medicine and the Medical School called Medicine. He had translations made from French to be taught in these schools. French was accepted as the language of instruction in medicine, Arabic and religion courses were not included in the program of Medicine. In addition to these, Hünkar sent 150 students to European countries to grow up in Western culture.

Hünkar understood the importance of the press. Those who went to Europe were talking about the free press to the Sultan. For this reason, it was necessary to publish a newspaper in the Ottoman country. For this purpose, he published the newspaper "Takvim-i Vekayi". That newspaper was unlike the media organs in Europe, because there was neither a staff nor a readership capable of publishing a newspaper of that level. and Mahmut II had this first newspaper published with scrappy means. The young Sultan understood very well that the development of the country depended on the necessary revolutions in the economic field. The Ottoman country was turning into an open market at that time. It was impossible for domestic manufacturers to compete with the products brought from abroad. The first precaution that came to mind was the use of fabrics brought from foreign countries.