Native name: Sultanahmet Camii
Sultan Ahmet Mosque is the national mosque of Turkey . The mosque is known as the
Blue Mosque
because of the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior . It was built during the reign of Ahmed I . Construction works took about 7 years from 1609 to 1616 . The complex building comprises a tomb of the founder , a madrasah and a hospice and is considered one of the most famous monuments of Islamic art and is visited by all who come to
Istanbul
to see its fascination .
On the same site of the mosque there was the palace of the
Byzantine
emperors , facing the Hagia Sophia and the hippodrome . Actually , large parts of the southern side of the mosque are built on the vaults and the undercrofts foundations of that palace . Also other several palaces like the palace of Sokollu Mehmet Paşa and large parts of the Sphendone (curved tribune with U-shaped structure of the hippodrome) , had to be bought and pulled down to provide the space for the new great building .
The sultan choose his royal architect Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa , who was a senior assistant of the famous architect Sinan , to design the building . It is
not surprising that the design and organization of such great building was described in meticulous detail in eight volumes which now can be found in the library of Topkapı Palace . Among the other buildings of the complex , the mosque specially is without doubt one of the most wonderful monuments in the whole world . It is the only mosque that was originally built with six minarets and was included in the complex built by Sultan Ahmet I to compete with Hagia Sophia . It is also considered one of the last examples that exhibits classical Ottoman architecture .
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