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4 unusual facts about Nurbanu Sultan


Nurbanu Sultan

Some have even suggested that she was poisoned by a Genoese agent.

During her nine years of regency, Afife Nûr-Banû Sultana ordered the renowned Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan to build The Atik Valide Mosque and Külliye, a multi-purpose complex of buildings centered around the mosque and composed of madrasah, darüşşifa, khanqah, caravanserai, and Turkish bath at the district of Üsküdar in Istanbul, where previously a "Jewish bath" was located at.

During her nine years of regency (1574 - 1583), her politics were so pro-Venetian that she was hated by the Republic of Genoa.

Moreover, it has been said that Nûr-Banû was related to Giorgio Baffo, as well as to Safiye Sultan, who was born Sofia Baffo, married to Nûr-Banû's son Murad III, and consequently became the next Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire when her son Mehmed III acceded to the throne.



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