Location Belgrade | Address Belgrade, Serbia | |
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Hours Open today · Open 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hours Similar Despot Gate, King Gate, Monument of Gratitude to France, Zindan Gate, Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion | ||
Mehmed Paša Sokolović's Fountain is near the north-west wall of the upper town, in the ditch in front of the Inner fort. Еvlija Čelebija states that the fountain was erected in 1576/77,for life of the famous statesman of the Тurkish Empire, The Grand vizier Меhmed Paša Sokolović. The precise position of the fountain does not appear on the cartographic sources until the 17th century. The earliest sketch dates back to the plan from the National library in Paris, from the early 17th century. On that plan, the fountain was presented as a rectangular structure with three free sides.
Contents
The history
Out of numerous Belgrade fountains, up to now, only this old Turkish fountain next to the Defterdarova Kapija next to the Upper town of the Belgrade fortress. Sharing the destiny of the fortress and following its transformations, this fountain's shape was somehow changed. Among European and Turkish travellers from the 16th to 18th century, who had the opportunity to visit Belgrade and the Upper town fort, the only one who mentioned this fountain was Еvlija Čelebija, who, in 1667, located it in the "hendek" – a trench Narinkale (the Central fort). The fountain was buried until 1938, when the first conservatory works were done.
The Architecture
The fountain has a rectangular basis, within which there is a vaulted elliptically shaped interior in with the entrance through the chute next to the fountain. The exterior consists of properly processed stone blocks, of the limestone origin. In the authentic form, all three free standing facades of the fountain were decorated, and water pipes were placed on them. In the lower part there was a plinth 0,7 metres high, whereas in the upper zone, at 3,9 metres height there was a semi-circular cornice. The former appearance of the facade above this cornice is not known. The preserved, lateral south-east facade of the fountain was divided by a niche, around 0,35 metres deep, ending in Saracenic refracted arch. The front south-west facade, being the main facade, was the most representative in decoration. It was divided by three niches. The central niche was identical to the one on the south-east lateral facade and had a stone basin, but only the rear part in line with the niche was preserved. The central niche was flanked with two smaller, lateral, semi-circular niches, set up above the plinth and decorated with one stylized representation of the cypress.
Меhmed Paša Sokolović's fountain bears cultural, historical and architectural values as the representative and at the same time one of the rare preserved monuments of the Turkish architecture in Belgrade.