Budapest Régiségei 37. (2003)

Gerő Győző: A buda-vízivárosi Tojgun pasa dzsámi és a Tojgun pasa mahalle 197-208

GERŐ GYŐZŐ THE TOYGUN PASHA MC PASHA MAHALLE IN BUDA The topography of the Turkish Buda was first identified by Lajos Fekete in his work that has been reliable even up to our days. He drew close attention to the significant buildings of the city, apart from defining the location and extension of the city quarters , the mahalles. With the help of his work it is possible to trace the historical topography of Buda from the Middle Ages, through the Turkish period up to our times. In recent decades there has been significant archaeological investigation in Viziváros, for example in the territory of the mahalle that had been formed first in Turkish Buda, the Toygun Pasha Mahalle, and it was also possible to conduct architectural-archeological research, too. It seems that the holme and the territory of the mahalle bearing the same name are identical. Toygun was the pasha of Buda two times in the early period of Turkish rule. His large-scale construction works are likely to be dated to the first, the longer period. In the following, first I would like to present the research and the results concerning the Toygun Pasha Mosque with an outlook of a theoretical reconstruction using analogous data. Significant remains of the Toygun Pasha Mosque had been supposed to be in the building of the Church of the Capucines (the parish church of the Lower Viziváros) at 32 Fő Street which seemed to be affirmed by preliminary studies at the site. Concerning the Mosque and the other buildings there are good references in the plans made by military engineers at the end of the 17

th century. The only topographically authentic plan of the vakuf buildings of the Toygun Pasha Mahalle has been preserved by the map of the siege of Buda in 1686 drawn by De la Vigne. The map presents the full and detailed street network of the Viziváros. This situation can be projected on a recent map to the area bordered by Fő Street, Ponty Street, and Szalag Street. Corvin Square also belongs here on the northern end of which the map shows a large rectangular building with a large, round tower. It could have been a significant building of the mahalle, used mainly for trade, an arasta or bedestan. There is another, a similar tower indicated to the south of the previous one, on the eastern side of the present Fő Street joined with a wall to each other. Probably this could have been the northern wall of the holme. 204 ÍQUE AND THE TOYGUN • VÍZIVÁROS (WATERTOWN) There are hardly any Turkish or western written sources referring to Toygun Pasha Mosque, similarly to the other buildings of his foundation. It could have been claimed before the research was started with the help of 17

th-18

th century plans and drawings, that the Toygun Pasha Mosque belongs to the quadrangular, one-minaret type of mosque and it had a three-part portico covered with small cupolas on the north-western side. Research has proved that it was a Turkish-based building, it had no mediaeval antecedent - as it had been supposed formerly In the course of enlarging the Capucine Church in the 18

th century the two longitudinal walls of the mosque were pulled down, and only two walls were preserved, the kibla wall that had been built of delicately worked ashlar with almost invisible joints, and the north-western wall built of broken stones. Probably in the siege of 1606 the northwestern wall of the mosque suffered such serious damages that it had to be completely rebuilt. The most succesful research was conducted on the facade of the south eastern wall of the mosque and on the short section of the present nave running in front of the kibla wall and certainly on the iner side of the south eastern main wall hiding the remains of the mihrab. The study of the south eastern facade showed that it was a homogeneous ashlar wall that suffered smaller or larger damages in the 18

th century and in modern times. Three original window openings were found on this facade of the mosque. After finding the windows the reconstruction of the facade of the mosque was succesful. (Fig. 4) The windows were built in at three levels and originally they had 2-2-1 layout. The window pattern of the other three walls of the mosque could have followed this system. Interestingly, this same window pattern is characteristic of the quadrangular Malkoch Bey Mosque in Siklós, the Aladza Mosque in Foca built in 1550-51, the Hadzi Mehmed Beg (Kradjozbég) Mosque in Mostar built in 1557 and the Begluk or Glavica Mosque in Livno. After the reconstruction of the facade architectural-archaeological research was done in the church on the kibla wall, aiming first of all to discover the remains of the mihrab. This was followed by an excavation focussing on the identification of the inner floor level of the mosque and the remains of the foundation of the mihrab and the minbar.