Picking our favourite mosques in Istanbul is, like picking our favourite children, impossible! (But for a different reason.) There are so many, and all have their attractions. Everybody loves Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, but we’ve got a few others up our sleeves. We were unable to rank them, though one of us is exceedingly fond of the last mosque!
The four we list here are all the work of Mimar (=architect) Sinan, the most famous and most influential of Ottoman architects. (It turns out we do have a type, at least in mosques…) He was born around 1490 in what is now the town of Kayseri (in Turkey). He served as a soldier in the Janissaries, the elite corps that served as the household troops for the Sultan. As a soldier on campaigns, he was already building fortifications, bridges, and roads. Süleiman the Magnificent appointed him chief architect at the age of 50, and at the time of his death in 1588 – at or near the age of 100! – he had designed more than 300 buildings.
The Rüstem Pasha Mosque is close to the Spice Bazaar, and commemorates Süleiman the Magnificent’s son-in-law, who served as Grand Vizier to the empire. Süleiman authorized the project after Rüstem Pasha’s death in 1561. For us, the most wonderful thing about this mosque is the exquisite tile-work inside, which gives the mosque an almost jewel-like quality. (See even more pictures of tiles here.)
The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekapı is named for Süleiman’s only daughter. (She has another mosque on the Asian side, but we haven’t seen that one yet.) This one was completed about 1570 and is on the second-highest hill in Istanbul. The interior is dazzling, largely because of the great number of windows (some of them stained-glass) below the domes. The windows also give the interior space a feel of lightness. What one sees today, however, is largely the result of reconstruction work: at least four earthquakes have taken their toll on the building, and two of them damaged the central dome, most recently in 1999.
Süleiman commissioned the Şehzade Mosque after the death of his son, Şehzade (=Prince) Mehmed, in 1543. This was Mimar Sinan’s first imperial commission, and he built it on a grand scale. The central space here is noteworthy, because underneath the main dome there are four half-domes. Allegedly, he had designed the plans for the sultan’s mosque, but realised he could do better.
And he did. Perhaps the best of all Sinan’s mosques is the Süleiman mosque. Like its namesake, it is truly magnificent. It sits atop one of the highest spots in the Old City, and looks especially beautiful when seen from the water. At night spotlights give the mosque a beautiful glow, and so it seems even more striking: we particularly love the view from the Galata bridge. The sense of space inside the mosque is fantastic, and the domes, despite their size, have a grace and beauty that is truly remarkable. The forecourt (see above) reminds us of some Italian Renaissance spaces, especially the surrounding courtyard. From here you can see some of the finest views of the city.
Across the street from Süleiman’s mosque, on a little side-street just outside the walls of the mosque complex, is a small, lovely building. It is here that the architect of all these wonders, Mimar Sinan, is buried, in a building that, fittingly enough, he himself designed.
