The Blue Mosque

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The tiles of the Blue Mosque by Cemil Şahin, photographed in the 21th century, from sultanahmetcami.org

The Blue Mosque, also called Sultan Ahmet Cami, is a Friday mosque built between 1609 and 1616 by Ahmed I. Sitting on the Hippodrome and next to the Hagia Sophia in the Old City, the mosque was built on the site of the palace of Byzantine emperors, signifying the transition of power to the Ottomans with the fall of Constantinople even 150 years after the conquest. With five main, eight secondary  domes and six minarets, the architectural plan of this mosque is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman building practices, in which the architect Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa synthesizes the ideas of his master Sinan. However, what dazzles approximately 15 thousand viewers each day, is the decoration of the mosque with over 20,000 Iznik tiles, dominated by hues of turquoise and green as well as traditional motifs of tulips and cypress trees, seen this 21th century photograph by Cemil Şahin.

The Mosque
The Blue Mosque