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The
Blue Mosque is one of the most prominent landmarks of
Istanbul, especially when viewed from the First Hill or
from the Asian shore of the Sea of Marmara. It is very
impressive with its beautiful domes and semidomes, nice
courtyards and six slender minarets.
The
Blue Mosque was founded by Sultan Ahmet I. He ordered
Architect Mehmed Aga to begin constuction in 1609 and
the whole complex was completed in 1616. The location of
the mosque is just opposite of the splendid Church of
Hagia Sophia as it is trying to compete with it. That is
actually true because Architect Mehmed wanted to
construct a bigger dome then Hagia Sophia's but he could
not succeed. Instead, he made the mosque splendid by the
perfect proportion of domes and semidomes as well as the
splendid minarets. There is an interesting story of the
mosque; according to it, Sultan Ahmet I wanted to have a
minaret made of gold which is "altin" in Turkish.
The architect misunderstood him as "alti" which
means "six" in English. However, when the architect was
shivering as "am I going to be beheaded?", the Sultan
Ahmed I liked the minarets so much. Prior to that time,
no sultan had a mosque with 6 minarets.
The
mosque covers a large area, there's a big courtyard
where some ablution fountains are located. These
ablution fountains are for people who are getting
prepared to pray in the mosque. Before praying, one
should wash his/her face, arms, neck and feet as well as
mouth and nose. This is a basic cleaning. There are
beautiful marble steps right in the middle of the
courtyard, leading to the main courtyard. The marble
courtyard is lovely, its marble comes from the Island of
Marmara (the Turkish word for marble ,"Mermer"
comes from Marmara). There is a fountain in the middle
which is used as decorative purposes. There is a portal
on the left hand side which is entrance for the local
people. Upon turning to the left, one comes to the main
entrance of the mosque. The shoes must be taken off and
put into plastic bags.
Upon
the entrance to the mosque, one should pay attention to
the gate. The gate is a typical Seljuk- Turkish
wooden work with a geometrical design in its center. The
star symbolizes the Turkish Generation and very typical
of early 11-12th C Turkish Art. After the gate, one
meets the breathtaking interior of the mosque with its
chandelliers and blue tiles. The mosque is all
surrounded by beautiful 17C Iznik tiles which give its
name to the Blue Mosque. It is all carpeted with prayer
rugs because people must put their forehead on the floor
and therefore the floor should be soft and clean.
The
building is nearly a square and covered with a dome of
23.5 m.(77 feet) in diameter and 43m(140 feet) high.
There are four colossal standing colums of 5m. in
diameter(16.3 feet) which give the basic support to the
building. The mosque has 260 windows which let the
sunlight diffuse into the building quite nicely. They
were filled with stained-glass in early 17C but they
were restored later. The pulpit and nave is worth seeing,
made of marble and original. The Imam(priest) goes on
the pulpit every Friday on the sacred day of the Muslims
but he never climbs to the very top as a respect to
Prophet Muhammed. Everybody should turn their face to
the south when praying, because Mecca( Saudi Arabia) is
located in South.
When
visiting the Blue Mosque, one should remember the prayer
times, five times a day. First one in the very early in
morning, second at noon time, third in afternon, fourth
in evening and last fifth before going to bed. The
mosque is closed at prayer times for 1-1.5 hours. One
should prefer to visit the mosque in the morning or
before 3-4 o'clock in the afternoon because the prayer
times rotate according to the sun's positions. |
