mcgillianaire | Istanbul Photos - Sultan Ahmed Mosque (aka The Blue Mosque)

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior, was built between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasah and a hospice. While still used as a mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction.

The Mosque is within walking distance of the Hagia Sophia museum and indeed this picture of the Blue Mosque was taken from the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia served as a model for many other Ottoman mosques including the Blue Mosque.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is one of the two mosques in Turkey that has six minarets. When the number of minarets was revealed, the Sultan was criticized for being presumptuous, since this was, at the time, the same number as at the mosque of the Ka'aba in Mecca. He overcame this problem by ordering for a seventh minaret to be built at the Mecca mosque. Four minarets stand at the corners of the mosque. Each of these fluted, pencil-shaped minarets has three balconies (ṣerefe) with stalactite corbels, while the two others at the end of the forecourt only have two balconies.

Visitor Guidelines in Turkish, English, French and German but they were not all enforced equally. Everybody took their shoes off but there were several ladies not wearing long skirts.

A copy of the Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ above the entrance to the Mosque. The 112th Sura of the Qur'an is a short declaration of tawhid, God's absolute unity, consisting of 4 ayat. Al-Ikhlas means "the purity" or "the refining".

The outer height of the dome is 43m. The dome has 28 windows (four of which are blind). The coloured glass for the windows was a gift of the Signoria of Venice to the sultan. Most of these coloured windows have by now been replaced by modern versions with little or no artistic merit. At its 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 different tulip designs.