The Blue Mosque-Istanbul

The Blue Mosque was founded by Sultan Ahmet I. He ordered Architect Mehmed Aga to begin constuction in 1609 and the whole complex was completed in 1616. The location of the mosque is just opposite of the splendid Church of Hagia Sophia as it is trying to compete with it. That is actually true because Architect Mehmed wanted to construct a bigger dome then Hagia Sophia's but he could not succeed. Instead, he made the mosque splendid by the perfect proportion of domes and semidomes as well as the splendid minarets. There is an interesting story of the mosque; according to it, Sultan Ahmet I wanted to have a minaret made of gold which is "altin" in Turkish. The architect misunderstood him as "alti" which means "six" in English. However, when the architect was shivering as "am I going to be beheaded?", the Sultan Ahmed I liked the minarets so much. Prior to that time, no sultan had a mosque with 6 minarets.
Upon the entrance to the mosque, one should pay attention to the gate. The gate is a typical Seljuk- Turkish wooden work with a geometrical design in its center. The star symbolizes the Turkish Generation and very typical of early 11-12th C Turkish Art. After the gate, one meets the breathtaking interior of the mosque with its chandelliers and blue tiles. The mosque is all surrounded by beautiful 17C Iznik tiles which give its name to the Blue Mosque. It is all carpeted with prayer rugs because people must put their forehead on the floor and therefore the floor should be soft and clean.
The building is nearly a square and covered with a dome of 23.5 m.(77 feet) in diameter and 43m(140 feet) high. There are four colossal standing colums of 5m. in diameter(16.3 feet) which give the basic support to the building. The mosque has 260 windows which let the sunlight diffuse into the building quite nicely. They were filled with stained-glass in early 17C but they were restored later. The pulpit and nave is worth seeing, made of marble and original. The Imam(priest) goes on the pulpit every Friday on the sacred day of the Muslims but he never climbs to the very top as a respect to Prophet Muhammed. Everybody should turn their face to the south when praying, because Mecca is located in South.