The Blue Mosque: Everything You Need to Know

Photo: Ayhan Altun/Getty Images

With a rich history dating back thousands of years, Istanbul is chock-full of architectural marvels. One such wonder is the Blue Mosque, or the Sultan Ahmed Mosque as it is known to locals. The Blue Mosque is a striking memento of Istanbul’s nearly 500-year stint as the imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire, making it an architectural destination as well as a house of worship. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, the building is one of Istanbul’s most prominent tourist attractions, and for good reason. From the outside, the structure’s six minarets and hulking dome are impressive and imposing. Once inside, the detailed tile work, stained glass, and painted motifs combine for a vivid and entirely unique environment—and yes, a very blue one too.

Below, we detail everything you need to know about the Blue Mosque, including its history, detailed design, and how you can stop by to get a look at it yourself.

What is the Blue Mosque?

Also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque is an over 400-year-old mosque in Istanbul. Considered one of the most sacred places on earth, among places like the Taj Mahal, Vatican City, and Mount Sinai, the mosque is both spiritually powerful and visually stunning. Many non-Muslim tourists make their way to the Blue Mosque each year, much in the way stunning churches in Europe attract non-Christians too. In Turkish, the building is called the Sultanahmet Camii—a direct translation of “Sultan Ahmed Mosque.”

Where is the Blue Mosque?

The landmark is located in Istanbul, Turkey, in the district known as Sultanahmet District. The Blue Mosque’s location is near a number of other notable tourist sites in the city from a range of periods, including the Ancient Greek Serpent Column, the 19th-century German Fountain, and the Obelisk of Theodosius, which was brought to this location in AD 390.

Blue Mosque history

Who built the Blue Mosque?

The Blue Mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet I, the Ottoman Empire’s sultan between 1603 and 1617. War bounty was typically used to fund large-scale projects like this, but the Sultan chose to use treasury funds to finance the building, since the Ottomans had not recently claimed victory in a war. This decision made the construction of the building highly controversial from its outset.

Why was the Blue Mosque built?

“Today, every tall building or skyscraper in the world competes with every other tall edifice, from the Empire State Building in New York to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai,” writes scholar Renata Holod in Mosques: Splendors of Islam, a book that presents a cornucopia of images and information on mosques across the world. “So, too, every dome built within the Mediterranean and West/South Asia in the pre-modern era appears to have competed with every other dome of its time and those preceding it.”

Such thinking can certainly be applied to the reason why the Blue Mosque Istanbul was built. Sultan Ahmet I was driven by his desire to build an Ottoman-style imperial mosque that would outrank the Hagia Sophia Mosque. The Hagia Sophia, which was first built as a church more than 1,000 years before Ahmet I’s reign, was in the Byzantine style, and, naturally, the Sultan wanted an Ottoman-style place of worship, which was appropriate given the region was then under Ottoman control. Located less than a five-minute walk apart, tourists can now easily see the visual difference between these two styles by visiting both.

Today, the Blue Mosque is recognized as one of the must-see tourist attractions in Istanbul, and central to the city as a whole. According to the Middle East Monitor, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, called the Blue Mosque “one of the most important symbols of Istanbul.”

When was the Blue Mosque built?

The Blue Mosque of Istanbul was built in the 17th century. Construction began in 1609 and was completed in 1617. There have been several restoration projects on the Blue Mosque in the 400-plus years since its construction. The most recent was completed in 2023, after a five-year process during which it was open in limited capacity to tourists and worshippers, save for a five-month closure period.

Blue Mosque design details

The Blue Mosque architecture

Designed by architect Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, the Blue Mosque is composed of one main dome, eight surrounding domes, and six minarets, which are large towers from which a prayer call could be announced. The perfect symmetry of the mosque is notable, giving the collection of domes the appearance of one large dome or hill-like structure from the outside.

Architect Sedefkar Mehmed Agha was hired by Sultan Ahmed for the project because he’d worked for Mimar Sinan, an Ottoman architect who designed Istanbul’s Süleymaniye Mosque (built for Suleiman the Magnificent, the 10th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire). According to Antony Mason’s Spiritual Places, there are many architectural similarities between the two places of worship. “In both, a cluster of domes and semi-domes around the main central dome forms the body of the mosque, ingeniously carving out the interior space,” Mason writes.

The decision to include six minarets on the Sultan Ahmet Mosque caused outcry, given that only the Great Mosque of Mecca had that many minarets—most mosques have four. A seventh minaret was added to the Great Mosque by Sultan Ahmet to quell those who were offended by the six minarets of the Sultan Ahmet Mosque.

The Blue Mosque interior design

As you might have already guessed from the structure’s name, the interior of the Blue Mosque uses a liberal amount of the azure hue. Around 20,000 tiles are used in mosaics on the interior walls, arches, and ceiling in a range of colors including white, red, green, brown, and blue tiles. The patterns depict leaves, geometric patterns, tulips, and other flowers. Notably, many of them were recycled from 16th-century palaces that were previously located on the Blue Mosque’s site, according to Mosques: Splendors of Islam. “Higher up, the domes and semi-domes of the ceilings are painted and gilded with patterns in a similar palette,” writes Antony Mason in Spiritual Places. Verses from the Quran appear on the walls of the building in Arabic calligraphy. Colored light filters into the space via stained glass windows, creating an even more dynamically colorful environment.

The Blue Mosque’s minbar, a raised platform from which the imam (preacher) delivers the sermon (or khutba) is intricately detailed. As noted in Mosques: Splendors of Islam, its design mimics the architecture of the building. “This minbar’s canopy is topped by a pencil-thin spire that emulates the archetypal minarets of Ottoman architecture,” writes Fatima Quraishi and Matthew Saba.

One’s eyes are certainly drawn upward when you step inside the Blue Mosque, but when you look down, you’ll find floors lined with wall-to-wall carpet—an essential for Muslim prayer. The carpet is red with a blue- and cream-colored flower design that bears similarities to a flower pattern that appears in tile on part of the ceiling. According to the Istanbul Insider, these carpets are regularly replaced as they become worn out.

Visiting the Blue Mosque

Since the Blue Mosque is a house of worship, it’s important to be aware of the specific rules for visitors that you won’t encounter at other architectural sites. There is a dress code for visiting the property. Specifically, people of all genders should make sure to wear shirts that fully cover the shoulders and bottoms that fully cover the knees. Women must wear a scarf around their heads. Additionally, all visitors must take off their shoes before entering the mosque. Bringing a plastic bag, or something else in which to carry your shoes, is a wise decision so that you can fully enjoy your experience in the mosque without having to worry about carrying your loose shoes around.

Is the Blue Mosque free?

Yes, visiting the Blue Mosque in Istanbul is free. That being said, there are several paid guided tour opportunities that can deepen the experience. There are also tours that include a number of stops at different attractions across the city. These can range anywhere from $16 to over $100.

Can you pray in the Blue Mosque?

Yes, you can pray at the Blue Mosque during the listed prayer times, which are different each day because of the changing position of the sun. For non-Muslim tourists, it’s important to take note of these prayer times, as tourists are not allowed into the building during prayer time if they do not intend to pray.

Is the Blue Mosque open on Sundays?

Yes, the Blue Mosque is open every day. As previously noted, it is closed to tourists who don’t intend to pray in the mosque during prayer times. On Fridays, prayer times extend into the afternoon.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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