Before Hidayet Mosque was built, the small district called
tr:Bahçekapı, located between
Eminönü and
Sirkeci, was a rough district known for murders, prostitution, and general poor conditions. It was given the informal name of
:tr:Melek Girmez Sokağı (
"The street that angels abandoned") by the locals. After the
plague of 1812,
Mahmud II ordered many Istanbul districts including Bahçekapı demolished, and in order to obscure the history of the area, he had the mosque built with the name
Hidayet, a word coming from Arabic meaning
"seeking the right path". File:Hidayet Mosque 6166.jpg|Hidayet Mosque exterior File:Hidayet Mosque 6170.jpg|Hidayet Mosque gate File:Hidayet Mosque 6172.jpg|Hidayet Mosque interior lower floor File:Hidayet Mosque 6173.jpg|Hidayet Mosque interior upper floor == References ==