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( SULTAN AHMET MOSQUE )
Constructed by the 14th Ottoman Sultan Ahmet during his reign between 1603-1617, Blue Mosque is the greatest and the most splendid mosque in Istanbul. The construction of the mosque was carried out by the architect Mehmet Agha in 1609 and it was finally completed in 1616.
Sultan Ahmet Mosque represents the last example of impressive architectural Ottoman artifacts mostly because of the fact that the mosques built after Sulatan Ahmet fell short of vying with the magnitute and stylistic elegance of Blue Mosque. Particularly the premises of Blue Mosque comprises a madrasah, a hospital, an Arasta Bazaar, a school, a mausoleum, a caravansary and a public fountain.
The venue of the Blue Mosque is in proximity to the Topkapı Palace which used to stage an old Byzantine Hippodrome which was the center of the city since the Byzantine period. The 21.043 pieces of mural tiles of the Mosque constitute the chief component of its inner decoration. Since the tiles are mostly green and blue in colours, this specialty accounts for the reason why the mosque is known as the ‘Blue Mosque’ all over the world. The most frequently used motifs in these tiles are springs, leaves, calyxes, tulips, roses, hyacinths, carnations, pomegranate flowers and grapes.
A remarkable charactersitics of Blue Mosque also resides in its being the only mosque with 6 minarets in Istanbul and Turkey which makes it unequalled among the others. These minarets placed at the corners of the mosque and the courtyard have a total of 16 balconies.
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