Soğukçeşme Sokak

Sultanahmet


Running between the Topkapı Palace walls and Aya Sofya, this picturesque cobbled street is named after the Soğuk Çeşme (Cold Fountain) at its southern end. It is home to the Carpet Museum, to a row of faux-Ottoman houses functioning as a hotel and to an undoubtedly authentic restored Byzantine cistern that now operates as the hotel's restaurant.

In the 1980s the Turkish Touring & Automobile Association (Turing) acquired a row of buildings on this street and decided to demolish most of them in order to build nine re-creations of the prim Ottoman-style houses that had occupied the site in the previous two centuries. What ensued was a vitriolic battle played out on the pages of İstanbul's newspapers, with some experts arguing that the city would be left with a Disney-style architectural theme park rather than a legitimate exercise in conservation architecture. Turing eventually got the go-ahead (after the intervention of the Turkish president, no less) and in time opened all of the re-created buildings as Ayasofya Konakları, one of the city's first boutique heritage hotels. Conservation theory aside, the street is particularly attractive and worth a look.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Sultanahmet attractions

1. Aya İrini

0.05 MILES

Commissioned by Justinian in the 540s, this Byzantine church is almost exactly as old as its near neighbour, Aya Sofya. Used as an arsenal for centuries,…

2. Caferağa Medresesi

0.06 MILES

This lovely little building tucked away in the shadow of Aya Sofya was designed by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan on the orders of Cafer Ağa, Süleyman the…

3. Carpet Museum

0.07 MILES

Housed in an imaret (soup kitchen) added to the Aya Sofya complex in the 18th century, this museum is entered through a spectacular baroque gate and gives…

4. Imperial Gate

0.08 MILES

Topkapı Palace's Imperial Gate leads to the palace's First Court, known as the Court of the Janissaries or the Parade Court. You can go through the gate…

5. Fountain of Sultan Ahmet III

0.08 MILES

This ornate rococo-style fountain outside the Imperial Gate to Topkapı Palace's First Court was built in 1728 by the sultan who so favoured tulips.

6. Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

0.09 MILES

Right in the heart of İstanbul’s historic center, this sacred Byzantine building remains an important symbol of power.

7. Aya Sofya Tombs

0.1 MILES

Part of the Aya Sofya complex but entered via Babıhümayun Caddesi, these tombs are the final resting places of five 16th- and 17th-century sultans –…

8. İstanbul Archaeology Museums

0.13 MILES

The city's foremost archaeological museum is housed in three buildings close to Topkapı Palace. There are many highlights, but the sarcophagi from the…