The two buildings are siblings of a sort, for in the early-seventeenth century Sultan Ahmet I wanted to construct a building that would rival Hagia Sophia in beauty. Ever since the two structures have faced each other across a central square, mirror visions of grandeur.
The Blue Mosque benefited from being built many years after Hagia Sophia. By the time of its construction, architects and engineers had greatly advanced in their understanding of how to create massive structures.
While Hagia Sophia has very few windows, the Blue Mosque is alight with colored rays passing through stained glass. Thus it has a sense of soaring interior space and a lightness that Hagia Sophia lacks (the building is so beautiful, in fact, that its architect and artisans were asked to build another structure you may have heard of—the Taj Mahal in India).
The Blue Mosque takes its name from the more than 20,000 richly decorated tiles that fill its interior, many tinged with blue. The tiles were made in Izmir (the ancient city of Smyrna), a place renowned for its ceramics. The overall effect is of shimmering azure light, almost as if you are entering an underwater palace.
Alam Kuh the Steps towards the Blue Sky
