blue mosque istanbul
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque, is a 17th-century imperial structure in Istanbul constructed between 1609 and 1617 by architect Sedefkar Mehmed Agha. Commissioned by Sultan Ahmed I to rival the adjacent Hagia Sophia, the building integrates Byzantine and classical Ottoman engineering. It features a central dome measuring 43 metres in height and 23.5 metres in diameter, supported by four primary pillars and a network of semi-domes. The exterior is defined by six minarets—an architectural anomaly for its era—while the interior contains over 20,000 hand-painted Iznik ceramic tiles that generate its namesake blue colouration. The complex functions concurrently as a UNESCO World Heritage site and an active Sunni mosque, necessitating restricted access for non-worshippers during daily prayer intervals.
