Blue Mosque Sultanahmet, Istanbul

Blue Mosque

Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) is one of the most important and largest mosques in Turkey. It was built in 1617 under Sultan Ahmed I in front of the Great Mosque of St. Sophia and named after him – Sultanahmet. But there is also a second (unofficial) name – "Blue Mosque", which became popular with foreigners who visited the mosque.

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Mosque Features
Disputes over the mosque
Why the Blue Mosque?
Interesting fact

About the mosque

The interior of the mosque creates the feeling of a large palace, which is decorated with unique floor carpets and chandeliers. In the mosque, you can get acquainted with examples of classical Ottoman art, which are transmitted in architecture, decoration, calligraphy, embroidery and wood carving.

Mosque Features

The Blue Mosque has six main minarets, five large domes and eight additional ones. The Sultanahmet Mosque is a whole complex that included a hospital, a higher educational institution – a madrasah, an elementary school, an imaret (free canteen), a market and a tomb for members of the royal family.

Inside the mosque, there are 4 bearing pillars with a diameter of 5 meters, which are decorated with quotations from the Koran. Due to their shape and size, the pillars became popularly known as "Elephant's Legs"

Disputes over the mosque

In the Ottoman Empire, it was customary to build mosques at the expense of trophies obtained in wars. There were no wars during the period of Sultan Akhmet I, so he decided to build at the expense of the state treasury, which caused a lot of disputes and discontent. The construction site also caused a lot of talk — opposite the Great Imperial Mosque of Hagia Sophia, and even next to the hippodrome, which was a landmark place for the city due to its location on a hill.

Why the Blue Mosque?

The mosque received this name due to its unique interior decoration. The walls are decorated with more than 20,000 hand-painted ceramic tiles covered with azure. Despite the fact that the drawings on the tiles have completely different colors, it is blue that has become the most contrasting and eye-catching.

The tiles were made in the city of Iznik, where the whole trend of Iznik ceramics originated, which existed from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Iznik products combined traditional Ottoman patterns with Chinese elements and were highly appreciated by the sultans.

This name was given by foreigners who were amazed by the incredible inner lightness and light inside. Locals prefer the official name Sultanahmet Camii.

Interesting fact

On November 30, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI visited the mosque, who uttered the famous phrase: "May all believers identify themselves with the one God and witness true brotherhood."