Built during the reign of Sultan Süleyman I ("Süleyman the Magnificent" reigned from 1520 to 1566), this grand architectural project was one of the famous works of Sinan, the Ottoman era's most celebrated architect.
Although superseded in tourist affections by the Blue Mosque, the prayer hall's vast domed interior, with its mihrab of Iznik tiles, stained-glass windows, and elaborately embellished woodwork details creates a more serene interior ambience than the younger mosque down the hill.
The surrounding buildings of the original mosque complex have all survived, and been restored, here, so a visit offers the chance for visitors to imagine how the great Ottoman mosques of the city would have functioned in the imperial heyday. These attached buildings originally housed a soup kitchen, medrese (theological school), inn, and hospital.
The grounds of the mosque are also home to the finely decorated tombs of Sultan Süleyman I and his wife Haseki Hürrem Sultan (also known to historians as Roxelana).
Sultanahmet Cami, Istanbul, Turkey
