Step off the tram at Sultanahmet and the city rearranges itself around you: the Hippodrome's obelisks on one side, the long grey bulk of Hagia Sophia on the other, and there, filling the southeastern edge of the old square, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque — the Blue Mosque — with six minarets climbing out of a cascade of domes. It is the silhouette that has dominated this skyline since the seventeenth century, and the reason the neighbourhood around you is simply called Sultanahmet.
An Imperial Mosque Built to Outshine Its Neighbour
Sultan Ahmed I commissioned this mosque in the hope of soliciting God's favour after the Peace of Zsitvatorok, and he built it in a place of deliberate symbolism: on the southeast side of the old Byzantine Hippodrome, facing the Hagia Sophia. Its site had held the Hippodrome's bleachers and the imperial box where the emperor watched the races; excavations in the early twentieth century turned up some of the ancient seats in the mosque's own courtyard. The architect, Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, was a pupil of Mimar Sinan, and he synthesised his master's ideas with aspects of Byzantine architecture borrowed from the neighbouring Hagia Sophia. The result is regarded as the last great mosque of the classical Ottoman period — and one of the most impressive and popularly admired monuments of Ottoman architecture. The project was not uncontroversial: Ahmed had won no major victories, funded the build from the treasury rather than spoils of conquest, and the ulema protested so strongly that they forbade Muslims from praying there. The mosque's grandeur and the elaborate public ceremonies staged around it won the city over, and it has given its name to the whole district. In 1985 it was inscribed with the Historic Areas of Istanbul on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Twenty Thousand Tiles, a Carved Mihrab and Six Minarets
What gives the mosque its popular name is the interior: thousands of Iznik tiles and painted floral motifs in predominantly blue colours, with tulips, cypress trees, roses and fruit among the patterns. Look up and the space is governed by the central dome and its cascading semi-domes, the dome carried on four massive cylindrical pillars with smooth pendentives easing the transition from the rectangular walls to the round centre, and stalactite-like muqarnas in stucco softening the smaller joins.
- At ground level, find the mihrab — finely carved marble with a muqarnas niche and two inscription panels above it — and the richly decorated minbar to its right, its summit capped with a gold-covered cone.
- Look for the sultan's loge, the elevated hünkâr mahfil in the southeast corner, and the two fountains built into the two northern pillars of the prayer hall.
- Walk the courtyard out front and count the six minarets flanking the building — an unusual number for an Ottoman mosque, and the source of a well-worn legend about a sultan's request for "golden" minarets misheard as six.
- From the square, take in the exterior of the domes and minarets; the silhouette is at its most photogenic at sunrise and sunset.
The mosque's külliye, or religious complex, included Ahmed's tomb, a madrasa and several other buildings in various states of preservation; Ahmed I died in 1617, around the time the mosque was completed, and his tomb stands on the northern side, facing Sultanahmet Park.
Visiting Around the Prayers, and Giving It Time
This is an active place of worship with daily prayers, and visitors are welcome outside prayer times — plan your arrival around them rather than trying to push through. Come in the morning or late afternoon for gentler light through the windows and a calmer prayer hall, and give yourself time: the mosque rewards a slow circuit of the interior, then a pause in the courtyard, rather than a quick pass through the doors. The highlight not to miss is the tilework itself — stand beneath the domes and follow the blue Iznik panels and painted motifs upward. If your visit falls in spring, April is the month for Istanbul's tulips, and Sultanahmet Park and Gülhane Park are both given over to large patches of them. Do bear in mind that most museums in Istanbul close on Mondays or Wednesdays, so check before you build a day around one.
Stepping Out into Sultanahmet and Beyond
You are standing in the densest concentration of historic monuments in the city. Across the square is the Hagia Sophia, the building this mosque was built to complement and rival. Topkapı Palace is a short walk away, and a sensible walking route strings the two together with the Blue Mosque and the square with the obelisks on it, At Meydani. Nearby you can also descend to the Basilica Cistern, or continue to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts along the side of the square. When you want a different register entirely, Sultanahmet has many historical hamams, and the nargile cafés around Yeniçeriler Caddesi, near the Grand Bazaar, make an easy end to an afternoon.
The Blue Mosque asks little of you beyond attention: a short walk from the tram, a few minutes in the courtyard, and then the slow business of looking up. Build it into a morning with the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı, check the prayer times before you set out, and let the rest of Sultanahmet unfold around it.