Sultan Ahmed Mosque is one of two mosques in all of Turkey that has six minarets , the other one is located at Adana . The minarets reflect classical Turkish architecture in their design . The number of minarets caused the sultan to be criticized , since the only mosque at that time with six minarets was the Mosque of Ka’aba in Mecca , which is the largest mosque and the mosque where all Muslims turn towards in prayer . The sultan resolved the problem by deciding to built a seventh minaret at his cost in Mecca mosque . The mosque has four minarets rising at the four corners of the mosque . Each of these four minarets has three galleries (ṣerefe) with stalactite corbels . The remaining two minarets rise at the end of the forecourt and are less in height than the other four and have only two galleries each . The galleries of the minaret have balconies and are reached by spiral stairs . The Mo’azen (caller for prayer) used to ascend the stairs to reach the balcony five times a day to call Muslims for prayer from there , however today this is done using large-speaker system .
Both the domes and the minarets are covered with lead . The top of the minarets are made of gold-plated copper . These coverings were repaired when needed by
skillful craftsmen .
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