Istanbul Municipality to restore 500-year-old dilapidated shrine

Aydemir Kadıoğlu – ISTANBUL

Within the scope of a restoration project by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the 500-year-old shrine of Asude Hatun in Istanbul’s Fatih district will be revived.

Due to years of neglect, the shrine has been in a dilapidated state, looking far from being a religious place. The windows and the entrance door of the shrine were broken, and the sarcophagus in the shrine was covered with a nylon sack.

“This shrine is very important to us,” said Mahir Polat, the municipality’s assistant secretary-general.

Polat stressed that the nylon sack covering the sarcophagus was taken out, while the broken iron door has been repaired and locked.

“Near the Asude Hatun shrine, there stand two other important shrines. We will restore all three of them together,” Polat said.

Calling the area where the three shrines are located “a mini Ottoman square,” Polat said that all the shrines would be open to visitors in the near future.

“The restoration works will start from the roof and the elevation of the structure,” he added.

The restoration project was implemented after daily Hürriyet’s news coverage on Dec. 17, 2020, showing the dilapidated condition of the shrine.

Asude Hatun was a foster mother who breastfed Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II, the eldest son and the successor of Mehmed the Conqueror, who conquered Istanbul in 1453.