The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, known in English as the Blue Mosque, was built to face Hagia Sophia across a public square and is famous for the tiled interior that gives it its nickname.
Ahmed I's mosque
Built between 1609 and 1617 for the young sultan Ahmed I, the mosque stands deliberately opposite the converted Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia, asserting Ottoman imperial and religious presence at the old heart of Constantinople. It was the last of the great classical imperial mosques of the Ottoman capital, built by a pupil in the tradition of Sinan, with a cascade of domes and half-domes descending from the central dome.
The blue interior and the six minarets
The English name comes from the tens of thousands of Iznik ceramic tiles, many in blues and greens, that line the upper walls of the interior, together with the light from its many windows. The mosque is also the only one in Istanbul built with six minarets. A well-worn story holds that six caused offence because the sanctuary at Mecca then had the same number, and that the sultan resolved the matter by paying for a seventh minaret at Mecca; the tale is repeated everywhere but is not securely attested, and is best treated as a good anecdote of uncertain standing rather than as documented history.
A working mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque remains an active place of worship, closed to visitors during prayer times and requiring the customary removal of shoes and modest dress, and it is one of the most visited buildings in Istanbul, part of the historic areas of the city inscribed as a World Heritage site. Ahmed I is buried in a tomb attached to the complex.