Tuesday continued as we walked under Turkish Chestnut trees to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, most famously known as the Blue Mosque. Built in the very early 1600’s by the 19 year old Sultan, it was placed on the site of Constantine’s former palace. It has six beautiful minarets (said to have been a misunderstanding by the architect – the usual number is 4) and over 200 stained glass windows.
When entering the walled gates, you pass under a chain, said to have been hung at the entrances to keep out the camels. They would then be tied to rings embedded in the walls on the outside.
It is called the Blue Mosque because of the bluish hue to the more than 22,000 individually hand painted Iznik tiles that line the walls and ceilings. The tiles have different designs, both geometric and various flowers (over 50 different tulip designs) and trees, each made with a rare blue pigment with other colors added and each different from another. It is said that not enough tiles could be made for the mosque, so some were taken from the harem of the Topkapi Palace which had been damaged by fire.
Magnificent, isn’t it?!
There are three entrances, the fourth side faces Mecca as all mosques do, and is the direction of prayer when it is called for from the minarets all over the city, five times per day – or when a person chooses to pray on their own. It appeared that only a few prayed during the calls, but Friday noon is the special day and time – like many Christian churches meet on Sundays. Men and women pray separately and women and tourists are not allowed to enter certain areas.
In order to enter the mosque, both men and women had to ensure that knees and shoulders were covered (no shorts, tank tops, etc.) and women had to cover their hair with scarves. Genny and I came prepared with scarves, but if we had not, they were available on loan. Everyone also had to remove shoes (not socks) and our guide gave us plastic bags to carry them in so we did not have to leave them in the cubbyholes.
After departing the Blue Mosque, we walked past a beautiful fountain and gardens toward the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, formerly known as the Byzantine Church of Divine Wisdom.
Originally built in 537 as an Orthodox Basilica, it served as the Cathedral of Constantinople and was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly 1000 years. When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453 it became a mosque until 1931. It was opened as a museum in 1935 until 2020, when it again became a mosque. It is interesting that there are some Christian symbols still remaining in a few places including four seraphim, one with its face uncovered. It is considered to be the most important Byzantine structure in the world and one of the world’s greatest buildings.
And with that, I’ll stop this part of the day and finish in another post. It was a long, exhausting, and wonderful day filled with the sights and sounds and tastes of Turkey!!
Beautiful buildings. The details are outstanding!