Discover the Blue Mosque: Sultanahmet’s Architectural Gem

Blue Mosque is one of the most beautiful and important mosques in terms of architecture. It is a work of the late classic period of Ottoman architecture. And was built exactly in the year 1616 by the architect Sedefkar Mehmet Ağa who was a  master of mother-of-pearl inlay decorations. For that reason; His name was Sedefkar, which means; The master of the mother of pearl inlays.  In addition to that He was the pupil of a  genius Architect named Sinan who was the chief architect of the Ottomans. Architect SİNAN built almost 400 buildings including his early period masterpiece the Shehzade (crown prince) mosque, his midterm masterpiece The Suleymaniye (Solomon) mosque, and his final period masterpiece, The Selimiye Mosque. Therefore we can say that Architect Sinan was like the Michelangelo of the Ottomans.

We compare each masterpiece of architect Sinan with the Hagia Sophia. Because Hagia Sophia is the most fascinating monument built by the Romans especially being one of the largest domes in the world with a dome size of 32 meters, and the one which inspired the Ottomans the most.  When  The Ottomans conquered  Constantinople; They converted the main cathedral Hagia Sophia from a church to a mosque. however converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque was not enough for the Ottomans. Because The Ottomans were as powerful as the Romans They wanted to prove to the world that They could build a gigantic monument like Hagia Sophia as well. Yet it was a big challenge to rival the Roman masterpiece for the Ottomans. Besides, the structural form of the hagia sofia was the best form to represent the philosophy of Islam. Hagia Sophia was built in a form that has a square plan covered with a dome. This has a great philosophy behind it; the Square was representing the earth and the dome was representing heaven. Covering square-planned monuments with a dome, was the best metaphor and became the best form for the classic Ottoman mosque architecture. However, this created a big challenge because Hagia Sophia was covered with a massive dome without using any columns at the center. So, We can say that the structural form of Hagia Sophia was a big revolution. The Ottomans got inspiration from that idea and furthermore, they took this form to the next level; to perfection.

In terms of dome size; The First step going to the same level as Hagia Sophia was the crown prince mosque of architect Sinan. (Dome size; 19 meters), It was the early period masterpiece of architect Sinan.  The second big step was the marvelous Süleymaniye mosque of architect Sinan. (Dome size;27,5 meters) It was the midterm masterpiece of Sinan.  But the final and the best answer to Hagia Sophia was the final perıod masterpiece of Sinan; the simile mosque. (  dome size; 31,60 meters).  because the diameter of the dome of Hagia Sophia was 32 meters.

After Sinan passed away; Sedefkar Mehmed Aga became the chief architect of the Ottomans. nonstop challenge continued but this time not in terms of size but it was a challenge of aesthetical beauty. It is not a coincidence that the most beautiful mosque, The Blue mosque stands in front of Hagia Sophia. It was decorated with the best and highest quality blue tiles for this reason it is called Blue Mosque by foreigners and the name was stuck as the international name of this mosque. But the original name of the mosque is Sultanahmet Mosque. It has great architecture, perfect symmetry, and harmony! Definitely, a must-see place during your İstanbul visit. But at the moment there is restoration work going on so you can just see a part of it.