After the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, the main Muslim temple of the Ottoman Empire was represented for many years by the grand Orthodox church of Hagia Sophia converted to a mosque. Only in the beginning of XVII century upon Sultan Ahmed's I order the Mosque was built that could compete by its stateness with the temple of the Byzantine emperors.
The construction of the mosque began in 1609 when Ahmed I the Sultan was only 19 years old. The constructor of the mosque was the architect Mehmet Aga. He was building this masterpiece of Muslim architecture for seven years. In 1616 the mosque was finished. It officially became known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, but people gave it another name: "Blue Mosque" - because of the fact that the interior of the temple is decorated with blue tiles. There are more than two hundred thousand of tiles covering the walls of the mosque like a dense carpet.
The mosque was deliberately built next to the church of St. Sophia to demonstrate the ability of the Ottoman and Islamic architects and builders to compete with any construction of their Christian predecessors. Thus, the two buildings form a unique historical and architectural territory.
The block of the "Blue Mosque" in Istanbul is quite traditional for Muslim architecture. Undoubtedly, a model for the construction of the temple was the Hagia Sophia: this is evidenced by the growing upward cascade of domes which reminds of a similar technique employed by the builders of the Byzantine temple. The large central dome is surrounded by four little domes, and under them there are four smaller domes. The number of minarets is quite unusual - there are six of them: four tall minarets usually stand at the corners of the fence and two lower minarets - on the outer corners of the inner courtyard.
The "Blue Mosque" is the world's only mosque with six minarets. The legend says that Ahmed the Sultan being so anxious to stress he is a true believer, had clearly "overdone" with the construction of six minarets: the orthodox fathers of Mecca, the holy center of Islam, were very angry to see the mosque with six minarets. It was also said that the Sultan incurred the anger of Allah upon himself: soon after his new mosque was built in 1627, Sultan Ahmed died of typhus at age of 27.
There are three gates to the courtyard of the Blue Mosque. In the courtyard there is a traditional ablution fountain. Its stone pool has a hexagonal shape. In the eastern corner of the mosque there is a Muslim school - Madrasah. The mosque is surrounded by a covered colonnade of porphyry with thirty small domes arranged on the roof.
A huge hall of the mosque is filled with light. 260 large windows are arranged in such a way that it reaches even the most distant corners. Based on four strong pillars, the main dome of the Blue Mosque literally soars in the air at a height of 24 meters. A huge lamp-chandelier hangs down from the ceiling. The floor is covered with magnificent carpets, mostly in red and cherry tones. But the main, dominant colors of the mosque are pale and dark blue. These colors dominate in thousands of tiles that decorate the walls of the mosque. In the XVI century Turkish masters' tiles enjoyed exceptional success and were exported to almost all countries of the Muslim world. During the construction of the "Blue Mosque" all the workshops worked only for it: Ahmed I forbade ceramic masters to deliver tiles for another buildings.
The vaults of the mosque and the inner surface of the dome are lined with tiles of light colors - white, yellow, cream, golden. The main motive of ceramic decoration of "Blue Mosque" is floral design as well as the sayings from the Koran. Mihrab and minbar of the mosque (pulpit - a chair for preaching) are made of white marble and covered with the finest carved ornament.
The "Blue Mosque" in Istanbul has become a symbol of the Turkish capital. Its huge dome and minarets tower over the Bosphorus and are the main silhouette of this ancient city.
Today both the Blue Mosque and Saint Sophia Cathedral are the symbols of the historic part of Istanbul - Sultanahmet district. Each year they attract more and more tourists owing to the developed touristic infrastructure in Istanbul which contributed to the emergence of more hotels in Sultanhmet area from which all the sights are within two minutes walk away.
The mosque is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 to 12:30, from 13:45 to 15:45 and from 17:30 to 18:30.
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