Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque stands in the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul's historic peninsula, facing Hagia Sophia across a park and bordering the old Hippodrome. Sultan Ahmed I ordered it built, and work ran from 1609 to 1617. The architect was Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, a pupil of the great Ottoman architect Sinan.

The mosque is widely known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles that decorate its interior. Ahmed I, who came to the throne young, wanted a mosque to rival Hagia Sophia, and its six minarets were unusual for a mosque at the time. The sultan's tomb stands just outside the complex.

The central dome is about 23.5 metres across and rises about 43 metres high, supported by four large piers and surrounded by semi domes. More than 20,000 handmade Iznik tiles line the lower walls and galleries, with tulips, carnations, cypresses and other floral designs, and over 200 stained glass windows let in light. The large courtyard, with a central fountain, is as big as the prayer hall itself.

The mosque is part of the Historic Areas of Istanbul, listed by UNESCO in 1985. A full restoration of the building began in 2018, renewed the tiles, the calligraphy and the dome decoration, and the mosque reopened in April 2023.

Entry is free. As a working mosque, it closes to visitors for about an hour and a half around each of the five daily prayers, and for longer at Friday midday prayers. Visitors must dress modestly, women must cover their hair, and shoes are removed at the entrance. Sultanahmet tram stop on the T1 line is a few minutes' walk away.

The choice of site carried a message. The mosque stands on the south east side of the old Byzantine Hippodrome, on ground once taken up by its stands and the imperial box where emperors watched the races. Building there, beside Hagia Sophia, let the Ottoman sultan claim the heart of the former imperial city and the skyline above it.

A small detail at the north west gate, the one that faces the Hippodrome, is easy to miss. A heavy iron chain hangs across the entrance to the outer court. It was placed so that even the sultan, riding in on horseback, had to lower his head each time he entered, a sign of humility before God.

Inside, much of the blue comes from painted decoration on the upper walls and domes as well as the tiles on the lower levels.