ABSTRACT
In the mid-sixteenth century, at the zenith of Ottoman prosperity, a Spanish doctor who worked for Sinan Pasha (died 1553) was astonished at the great number of public fountains in the city of Istanbul (Carim 1964). The existence of so many public fountains demonstrated the status of that city. In Istanbul, which became the capital of the Ottoman Dynasty in the mid-fifteenth century, many large-scale urban facilities came to be built and, amidst the increase in population, water supply became an important theme. The construction of water supplies and public fountains proportional to water demand was deeply connected with the development of Istanbul.
