Quick Guide 4: Blue Mosque or Sultan Ahmed Mosque?

Being close to the Topkapı Palace, Sultan Ahmed Mosque was regarded as the Supreme Imperial Mosque in İstanbul. A 19-year-old Sultan, Sultan Ahmed I, started digging ceremoniously in the presence of high officials until he was tired. Thus began the construction in 1609 that continued until it was finished in 1616. He appointed his royal chief architect Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, one of the apprentices of Architect Sinan, to be in charge of the construction. He designed one of the last examples of the classical period’s architectural style. It incorporates Byzantine architecture with that of traditional Islamic. Built by Sultan Ahmed I as a part of a large complex, it is originally called as Sultan Ahmed Mosque. However, visitors fascinated with the beautiful turquoise blue tiles always remember it as the Blue Mosque. The complex consisted of a mosque, tombs, fountains, medreses (schools of theology), a health center, kitchens for the poor, shops, a bath, rental rooms, houses and store houses.