The first monument I set my eyes on when I arrived by tram at Sultanahmet was the Blue Mosque, Istanbul. In fact, Blue Mosque is my favourite architectural building in Istanbul. I walked around the Sultanahmet Square day and night to photograph the Blue Mosque.
Blue Mosque
The original name of the mosque is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Even though the westerners called it the Blue Mosque, the Turks have never called it as the Blue Mosque. It was called the Blue Mosque because of its famous blue tiles from Iznik (Nicaea) that adorn the interior walls of the mosque. In those handmade tiles, blue, white, green and other colours were used.
The History of Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Blue Mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built between 1609-1617 by Sedefkar Mehmet Aga upon the order of Sultan Ahmet I, who ascended to throne at the age of 14 as the 14th Sultan of Ottomans. He was onlu 19 years old when he commissioned to build the great mosque.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is a masterpiece built with the understanding of the Great Architect Sinan in the 17th century.
To enter the inner courtyard, you need to wear decent clothes which adequately cover your chest and hair. For females, the entrance into the mosque was at the back courtyard. Free hair female will be asked to cover their hair with shawl provided. Shoes need to be removed too.
The Courtyard
Once I entered the mosque, I noticed the line that separate the prayers and the tourists. Tourists were not allowed to walk beyond the line. Now and then, there would be Muslims praying at the mosque while the tourists continuously press the shutter to photograph the moment. As a Muslim, I can’t help but wonder how the Istanbul people can bear with the huge amount of tourists entering their worship place day in day out.
The interior walls of the Sultanahmet Mosque
The most astounding feature is the dome. In Turkish Islamic architecture, the dome is usually considered a representation of the heavens. The hemisphere shape, the abundant blue colour and space were impressively beautiful.
The central stone was called “kilit tasi’ which literally means ‘locking-stone’. This is a huge stone carefully carved and placed so that it pushes all the smaller stones to the sides with its size and weight.
Other features of the Blue Mosque include mihrab, minbar, kursi, muezzin mahfili and hunkar mahfili.
There are 6 minarets altogether. Four of them have 3 balconies and their size is 73m and 2 have 2 balconies and 60m high. The dome is about 42 metres high and is a diameter of 23.5 metres. The main prayer hall can accommodate up to 10,000 worshippers at a time. It also has 260 windows.