DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5542#0216
Chap, xlii.]
KONIYEH.
205
means of numerous passes, easily communicates with Ci-
licia, and the country about Aspendus. Thence he appears
to have conducted the Queen through Phrygia Paroreius
as far as Cappadocia, and then to have sent her across the
mountains into Cilicia, probably by the passes to the south
of Karaman.
To return to Koniyeh: I have already stated the melan-
choly appearance of its ruined buildings on my first arrival.
The Utch Kaleh, which stands in the centre of the town,
is fast crumbling to pieces ; the stone facings of the walls
have been removed, probably to build the Pacha's konak,
and the walls themselves are rapidly decaying: on the
summit of the castle hill is a mosque, built by Sultan
Alettin, and named after its founder. Nothing could be
more dreary than the view of the town from this hill, par-
ticularly looking to the west; the eastern portion is more
thickly inhabited, and in a less ruinous condition. Amongst
the many beautiful specimens of Saracenic architecture,
none struck me so much as the Injemi Minareh Djami (the
Mosque with the Minaret reaching to the stars), of which I
attempted to make a sketch, but found it impossible to
give a correct representation of the exquisite delicacy of
the tracery, fretwork, and mouldings. Indeed, these re-
mains of Arabic architecture are the chief objects of inte-
rest at Koniyeh in the present day. The minarets, like
many in Persia, are chiefly of glazed tiles and bricks of vari-
ous colours, amongst which red and blue are predominant.
Another interesting ruin is the old Turkish prison or
dungeon, which forms part of the western wall, bearing
some resemblance to a Gothic castle with its ruined towers,
battlements, and keep. It has been surrounded by a deep
moat crossed by a wooden bridge, (by which I reached a
platform leading to the entrance round the castle wall
inside the moat,) but exposed to the enemy, with the excep-
tion of a slight breastwork only eighteen inches thick, oppo-
site the bridge, pierced with eight or ten loop-holes. En-
KONIYEH.
205
means of numerous passes, easily communicates with Ci-
licia, and the country about Aspendus. Thence he appears
to have conducted the Queen through Phrygia Paroreius
as far as Cappadocia, and then to have sent her across the
mountains into Cilicia, probably by the passes to the south
of Karaman.
To return to Koniyeh: I have already stated the melan-
choly appearance of its ruined buildings on my first arrival.
The Utch Kaleh, which stands in the centre of the town,
is fast crumbling to pieces ; the stone facings of the walls
have been removed, probably to build the Pacha's konak,
and the walls themselves are rapidly decaying: on the
summit of the castle hill is a mosque, built by Sultan
Alettin, and named after its founder. Nothing could be
more dreary than the view of the town from this hill, par-
ticularly looking to the west; the eastern portion is more
thickly inhabited, and in a less ruinous condition. Amongst
the many beautiful specimens of Saracenic architecture,
none struck me so much as the Injemi Minareh Djami (the
Mosque with the Minaret reaching to the stars), of which I
attempted to make a sketch, but found it impossible to
give a correct representation of the exquisite delicacy of
the tracery, fretwork, and mouldings. Indeed, these re-
mains of Arabic architecture are the chief objects of inte-
rest at Koniyeh in the present day. The minarets, like
many in Persia, are chiefly of glazed tiles and bricks of vari-
ous colours, amongst which red and blue are predominant.
Another interesting ruin is the old Turkish prison or
dungeon, which forms part of the western wall, bearing
some resemblance to a Gothic castle with its ruined towers,
battlements, and keep. It has been surrounded by a deep
moat crossed by a wooden bridge, (by which I reached a
platform leading to the entrance round the castle wall
inside the moat,) but exposed to the enemy, with the excep-
tion of a slight breastwork only eighteen inches thick, oppo-
site the bridge, pierced with eight or ten loop-holes. En-