Blue Mosque, Istanbul

It is possible to visit the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque, in Turkish, Sultanahmet Camii) at any time of day, except for the half-hour prayers time five times a day. On Friday, Muslim holy day, prayers are longer and the Mosque may remain closed for a more extended period. There is no entry fee. Visitors generally enter from the north door while the west door is reserved for Muslim worshippers. You will be given a plastic bag for your shoes when you walk round to the main entrance.

The approach to the Blue Mosque is architecturally spectacular, with the six slender minarets - this is the only Mosque in Istanbul with six minaets - towering above you, and a succession of domes that provide a volumetric crescendo up to the main dome with its golden spire. You may expect the building to be blue, but in fact outside, it is grey. The name actually comes from the 21,043 blue tiles used inside. The Mosque is surrounded by a wide courtyard on three sides, each side having eight portals. Having entered, the calligraphy by poet and architect Mehmet, the painted arabesques on the roof of the dome, the stained glass windows, and the blue tiles gradually unfold, and you feel the mystic atmosphere of the location. The remarkable effect of the Blue Mosque's interior is the bright lighting produced by the 260 windows through which sunlight streams in. This is skillfully combined with the use of ceramic tiles, introducing a new type of architecture.

The Mosque was built in a relatively short time, from 1609 to 1617, by poet-architect Sedefkar Mehmet Ada, during the rule of Ahmed I.
Pope Benedict XVI visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque on 30 November 2006 during his visit to Turkey. It marks only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship.

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APD 28.11.12