Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque, with its alternative name of the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, is situated in the oldest part of the town opposite the glorious Church of Hagia Sophia and next to the ancient Hippodrome area within walking distance of the Topkapi Palace. Sultan Ahmet 1st ordered the architect Mehmet Aga to start construction of the mosque in 1609 and the whole complex was finished in 1616. It is really charming, with its domes, semi domes, courtyards and six slender minarets. The story behind the six minarets is: Sultan Ahmet wanted to have golden minarets to cast a shadow on the magnificent church of Hagia Sophia. The word for “golden” is quite similar to the word for “six” in Turkish, so the architect got it wrong. Instead of building four golden minarets he built six minarets of stonework.