Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)

Timeline

1. 1609–1616Sultanahmet Square, Istanbul · IstanbulAhmed I chose a site beside the former Hippodrome, with chief architect Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa (a pupil of Mimar Sinan) directing the design. The six minarets broke the convention that only the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca had six, causing controversy; the sultan then funded a seventh minaret for Mecca. Over twenty thousand Iznik blue and white tiles line the interior walls, giving the mosque its later name, the Blue Mosque.
2. 1616–1650Istanbul, Ottoman Empire · IstanbulOn completion the mosque immediately became the most important imperial prayer site in the Ottoman capital, standing beside the Hagia Sophia and forming Istanbul's twin religious landmarks. It housed the sultan's private prayer loge (hünkâr mahfili), where Ottoman sultans led prayers on major festivals and used the mosque as a diplomatic showcase of imperial majesty. Its stacked arrangement of great dome and semi-domes inherited and deepened Sinan's classical paradigm.
3. 1648–1687Istanbul, Ottoman Empire · IstanbulIn the 1670s the Ottoman Empire was under Mehmed IV and the Köprülü grand viziers, waging war on Poland (Battle of Podolia in 1672, resulting in the Treaty of Buchach). The Blue Mosque continued as the capital's ceremonial center, the Ottoman classical architectural tradition reached maturity, and Istanbul's cityscape remained dominated by the classical Ottoman style, not yet entering the Baroque transformation of the next century.
4. 1700Istanbul, Turkey · TurkeyIn the 18th century Ottoman architecture gradually absorbed European Baroque and Rococo elements, forming an 'Ottoman Baroque' style, but the Sultan Ahmed Mosque always retained its classical form, becoming a specimen and reference of Ottoman classical architecture. After the empire's dissolution the mosque continued in use through the Turkish Republic, and in 1985 was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List together with the historic areas of Istanbul; it is now one of the world's most iconic Islamic shrines.