The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)



The Blue Mosque is a historic mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. The mosque is known as the Blue Mosque because of blue tiles surrounding the walls of interior design. The Blue Mosque continues to function as a mosque today; men still kneel in prayer on the mosque's lush red carpet after the call to prayer. Also known as The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. It 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, another popular tourist site. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul.

Following the Peace of Zsitvatorok and the crushing loss in the 1603–1618 war with Persia, Sultan Ahmet I, decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul to reassert Ottoman power. It would be the first imperial mosque for more than forty years.



The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is one of the three mosques in Turkey that has six minarets (the other two being the modern Sabancı Mosque in Adana and the Hz. Mikdat Mosque in Mersin). According to folklore, an architect misheard the Sultan's request for "altın minareler" (gold minarets) as "altı minare" (six minarets).

Four minarets stand at the corners of the Blue Mosque. Each of these fluted, pencil-shaped minarets has three balconies (Called Şerefe) with stalactite corbels, while the two others at the end of the forecourt only have two balconies. Before the muezzin or prayer caller had to climb a narrow spiral staircase five times a day to announce the call to prayer.


Today, a public announce system is being used, and the call can be heard across the old part of the city, echoed by other mosques in the vicinity. Large crowds of both Turks and tourists gather at sunset in the park facing the mosque to hear the call to evening prayers, as the sun sets and the mosque is brilliantly illuminated by colored floodlights.



Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque on 30 November 2006 during his visit to Turkey. It marks as only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship.

On summer evenings at 9pm, there is a historical narrative and a light show at the Blue Mosque. The commentaries are given in Turkish, English, French and German on various evenings.
An aspiring travel photographer.

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