Sultanahmet Mosque

The Sultanahmet Mosque, known throughout the world as ''the Blue Mosque'' because of the dominant blue color of the paint and the ceramic tiles used to decorate its interior, is one of the most valued masterpieces not only of Turkey but of the whole Islamic World. Named after Sultan Ahmet I, who ordered its construction in 1609, the Blue Mosque was built for 7 years. The sultan wished to create a place of Islamic worship to rival the Hagia Sophia, or Aya Sophya, constructed under the Roman ruler Justinian II in 532 AD.

Completed in 1619, the interior of the mosque features a massive dome supported by four grand columns, five meters (16ft) in diameter, as well as characteristic Ottoman tile patterns and brightly-coloured windows. Sultanahmet Mosque inspires deep admiration in all those who visit it. It is a remarkable example of classical mosques built with six minarets. Sultanahmet Mosque was designed and built as the core of a complex consisting of several building: a covered bazaar, a Turkish bath, a public kitchen for the poor, a caravanserai, a hospital, schools, and later the tomb of Sultan Ahmet I. Some of these structures have not survived to this day, though. Nevertheless, Sultanahmet Mosque’s opulent domes and slender, balconied minarets rising up towards the sky, are of the city’s most striking images. The Mosque’s silhouette is a prominent part of the beautiful skyline of Istanbul as seen from the sea. Hundreds of Muslims still use the mosque for daily prayer and worship. Visitors of all faiths are given special slippers and head and shoulder coverings at the entrance, may enter the Blue Mosque and look around the its beauties.