Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical, imperial mosque, located in Istanbul, Turkey. A functioning mosque, it also attracts large number of tourists. It was constructed between, 1609 and 1616, during the rule of Ahmed the first. Its Külliye, contains Ahmed's tomb, a madrasah, and a hospice. Hand-painted blue tiles, adorn the mosque’s interior walls, and at night the mosque, is bathed in blue, as lights frame the mosque’s, five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes. It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, the principal mosque of Istanbul, until the Blue Mosque was built, and it is another, popular tourist site.

The design is the culmination of, two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates, many Byzantine elements of the neighboring, Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture, and is considered to be the last, great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendor. The upper area, is decorated with approximately, 20,000 hand-painted glazed ceramic, in 60 different tulip patterns. The lower stories, are illuminated by, 200 stained glass windows. The mosque is preceded by, a forecourt with a large fountain, and special area for ablution.

The tiles at lower levels, are traditional in design, while at gallery level, their design becomes flamboyant, with representations of flowers, fruit and cypresses. The tiles were made, under the supervision of the İznik master. The upper levels of the interior, are dominated by blue paint. More than 200 stained glass windows, with intricate designs, admit natural light, today assisted by chandeliers. On the chandeliers, ostrich eggs are found, that were meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque, to repel spiders. The decorations include verses from the Qur'an, many of them made by, Seyyid Kasim Gubari, regarded as the greatest, calligrapher of his time. The floors are covered with carpets, which are donated by the faithful, and are regularly replaced, as they wear-out.

The Blue Mosque, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, in 1985 under "Historic Areas of Istanbul".