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It is a building complex built in the
name of Sultan Ahmed I, in today’s Sultan Ahmed region. It was composed of a mosque, a
medrese (school), a primary school, a tomb, shops, a Turkish bath, a clinic, and a
hospice. It was designed by architect Sedefkar Mehmed Aga and constructed between 1609 and
1620.
The outer courtyard of the structure is surrounded by
walls in which the mosque is located, there are two praying holes in shape of a square
with a foundation. The dome which covers the praying holes is encircled by half domes from
the four directions, and four corners were also covered by small domes and obtains a
wholeness in the plan. The belts carrying the big dome form a circle and they were made in
a sectioned elephant foot shape for decreasing the impression of thickness. The passage to
the dome is provided by big pendants. The walls of the mosque is decorated with blue
coloured tiles. The mosque is known as the Blue Mosque especially by the Europeans. The
tombs of Sultan Achmed I, his sons and his mother are located in the mosque. |
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