Blue Mosque
停止: 30 minutes
This wondrous building is perhaps the most photographed site in Istanbul and one of Istanbul’s most iconic buildings, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque was built in the early 17th century as an audacious reassertion of Ottoman power. The mosque is famed for its magnificent blue interior. It is lined with over 20,000 handmade Iznik ceramic tiles in over 50 different designs, increasing in flamboyance from the lower levels up to the galleries. Working closely with architect Sedefhar Mehmet Aga, the sultan ordered six minarets to be constructed on the mosque, a controversial decision as the only other mosque in the world with this number of minarets was in Mecca. Both within and outside the mosque, its multiple domes create a magnificent effect: a cascade from the outside, while from inside the domes reinforce the eyes' gaze upwards toward the center of the mosque, which soars toward heaven.