Blue Moqsue (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)

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Sultan Ahmed Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque by many tourists for its bluish interior decor, is the most important mosques of Istanbul’s Byzantine Hippodrome stood next to old downtown. This mosque was built by the Ottoman sultan Ahmed I between 1609 – 1616 facing the Hagia Sophia, to compete with it. His architect Mehmet Aga is Sedefkar, a poet and inlayer too, and a student of the great architect Sinan. When Ahmed I died in 1617, he was buried near the mosque and the tomb that was built on his tomb. Sultan Ahmed Mosque was built as a complex including a school of theology, an imperial kitchen hut, poor shops bazaar to raise funds for maintenance work, and a small library.

Façade of the spacious front yard was built in the same manner as the façade Süleymaniye Mosque, except for the addition of the tower at the corner of the dome. The court is as large mosque itself and is surrounded by arcades, continually somewhat monotonous, jump (revak). He has ablution facilities on both sides. Central hexagonal fountain is rather small differ-dimensional page. Monumental but narrow gateway for pages stand out from the arcade architecture. Its a semi-dome has a fine stalactite structure, crowned by a rather small ribbed dome on a high tholobate.

A heavy iron chain hangs at the top of the court entrance on the west side. Only the sultan allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. The chain was there, so that the sultan had to lower his head every time he entered the court so as not exposed. This was done as a symbolic gesture, to ensure modesty (small) from the rulers in the face of the divine.

At the lower levels and at every pier, the interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles, made at Iznik (the ancient Nicaea) in more than fifty designs of different tulips. Tiles on the lower level to the traditional in design, while at gallery level their design becomes flamboyant with representations of flowers, fruit and pine trees. More than 20,000 tiles that are made under the supervision of coarse Haci Iznik master potter, and Line Efendi from Avanos (Cappadocia). price to be paid for each tile set by the sultan’s decree, while tile prices in general rose from time to time. As a result, the quality of tiles used in building gradually decreased. their colors have faded and changed (red changes to brown and green to blue, white speckled) and the glazes have dulled. Tiles on the back balcony wall tiles recycled from the harem at Topkapi Palace, when it was damaged by fire in 1574.

The top level interior is dominated by blue paint, but the quality is bad. More than 200 stained glass windows with intricate designs admit natural light, today assisted by a candle. In place of candles, ostrich eggs are found that are meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling spiders. Decorations include verses from the Qur’an, many of them made by Seyyid Kasim Gubari, regarded as the greatest calligrapher of his time. The floor is covered with carpet, donated by people who are loyal and periodically replaced due to wear. Many large windows give the impression of broad. The casements at floor level are decorated with opus sectile. Exedra Each has five windows, some of them blind. Each semi-dome has 14 windows and the central dome 28 (four are blind). Stained glass window is a gift for the Signoria of Venice to the sultan. Most of the colored windows owned by now been replaced by modern versions with little or no artistic merit.

The most important element in the interior of the mosque is the mihrab, which is made of finely carved and sculptured marble, with a niche-shaped stalactites and panel double inscription on it. Ceramic tiled walls adjacent. But the many windows around it make it look less spectacular. On the right of the mihrab is the richly decorated minber, or pulpit, where the Imam stands when he delivered a sermon during noon prayer on Fridays or on holy days. This mosque has been designed so that even when it is at the most crowded, everyone in the mosque to see and hear the Imam.

Royal kiosk is situated at the southeast corner. It consists of platforms, loggia and two small retiring rooms. This gives access to the royal lodge at the gallery on the south-east of the mosque. This room was the headquarters of pension Grand Vizier during the suppression of rebellious Janissary Corps in 1826. The lodge kingdom (hünkâr mahfil) is supported by ten marble columns. He has his own mihrab, that used to decorated with jade and gold roses and one hundred Qurans on inlaid and gilded lecterns.

Many of the lights in the mosque once covered with gold and jewels. Among the glass bowls one could find ostrich eggs and crystal balls. All these decorations have been removed or pillaged for museums. Tablets are written large on walls with the names of caliphs and verses from the Quran, originally by 17th-century calligraphy big Ametli Gubarım Kasim, but they often returned.