top of page
Istanbul. Between Cross and Crescent Moon
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
Blue Mosque
Ahmed I. 1617
PLAY ME
If one day,
as a traveller, you were to come to Constantinople
with the intention of visiting mosques, it would be a must to visit the mosque I built in the early 17th century, the Sultanahmet Camii, better known as the 'Blue Mosque', one of the most important Islamic religious structures in the city! After the peace of Zsitvatorok and the unfortunate results of the war with Persia, I decided to build a large mosque in this city
to reaffirm the power of our Ottoman Empire and to create my most phenomenal place of worship. In fact, this was the first imperial mosque built in Constantinople since that of Suleiman, erected some forty years earlier. But while my predecessors built mosques with their own personal wealth, I used public money,
since I had not achieved any significant military victories... This triggered the dissent of the Muslim religious scholars. The Blue Mosque was built on much of the site of the Grand Palace of Constantinople, in front of Hagia Sophia, which, in my time, was the most revered mosque in the city. If you're wondering why it's called the 'Blue Mosque',
admire the tiles; they're made of turquoise ceramic and make up the walls and dome of the building, with the blue colour being the dominant one. All this creates an atmosphere as evocative as it is surreal, and of a beauty that is more unique than rare!
Sezione 3
bottom of page