But it's not Blue (Blue Mosque)

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Blue Mosque
Date:	10/06/01 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful building (both inside and out), Easy to get to, Very low admission fee

Disadvantages: Closes during prayers, Gets very crowded, Dress appropriately

Almost synonymous with the skyline of Istanbul is the imposing sextet of spires surrounding the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, better known to the world as the Blue Mosque. Stand near an American tourist there, and it won't be long before you hear a bitter, whining protestation that the mosque isn't blue. Well, it's true, the outside of the mosque isn't blue, so let's shatter that illusion for a start. The name actually comes from the predominantly blue-coloured Iznik tiles inside the mosque.

The Blue Mosque is an imposing presence at the eastern end of the southwestern peninsula of the city, and is probably one of the first tourist attractions in the city that you'll see upon arrival, as you enter the city along Kennedy Caddesi.

HISTORY

Sultan Ahmet I ascended to the throne in 1603 at age fourteen, and was an extremely religious ruler, immediately decreeing that a mosque should be built to overshadow with the nearby Haghia Sophia. The next step was to decide where to build this incredible mosque, and soon a location was found – the site of the palace of Ayse Sultan. The palace's owner was compensated, and architect Mehmet Aga began construction on the site in 1609. The work was completed in 1617.

The mosque is unique, at least in Istanbul, in having six minarets. At the time of construction, this was decision provoked great hostility, primarily because it was seen as a challenge to the architecture of Mecca itself. Four of the six minarets have three balconies, and the other two have two each, making a total of 16.

According to Mehmet Aga's memoirs, the building was originally designed to have fourteen balconies, in honour of the number of Ottoman sultans, but in the 16th century, a further two were added to include sons of some of the sultans.

TOURING THE MOSQUE

Firstly, if you're planning to tour the mosque, you'll have to prepare yourself for other tourists... tons
of them. More or less from the time that the mosque opens to visitors (at 9am – though the mosque has been open to Muslim worshippers for several hours before this), the place is swarming with tourists. The majority of tourists visiting the city stay in the large chain hotels way out to the west of the city, and are bussed in to the tourist attractions. If you stay nearer the centre, it's less of an effort to beat the crowd, and visit places before they become too much of a circus.

Secondly, and this is a general rule that applies to all the mosques in Istanbul, dress appropriately. Women should ensure that they're not wearing too short a skirt, and would be well advised to bring a scarf, as many mosques insist that female visitors cover their heads within the mosque. It's also worth wearing shoes that you can slip on and off easily. All mosques insist that you remove your shoes before entering, and continually taking your shoes on and off can become tiresome, if there's a lot of messing about with laces involved.

Anyway, on with the tour. You can either enter the Blue Mosque complex from the Hippodrome to the West, or from the Ayasofia Meydani (Ayasofia Garden) to the North. Within the grounds, before entering the mosque, be sure and look at the area to the north-west of the mosque, where a pillared walkway holds a series of taps for ablution prior to worship in the mosque.

The entrance to the mosque itself is in the south-east corner. Queues are likely to be fairly sizeable, and while you wait to go in, expect to be hassled by vendors trying to sell you guidebooks and postcards. A simple "no" is unlikely to be enough. When you get into the mosque itself, you are given a black plastic bag to put your shoes in, which you then carry with you into the building.

The mosque itself, is absolutely incredible inside. Just above your head is an enormous intricate chandelier extending out to fill an area ab
out equivalent to the widest point of the dome above it. The carpet is marked with a repeated patterns of arch shapes, each representing the place at which a worshipper would pray towards Mecca during prayers.

Most impressive, however, are the incredible ceilings and domes, beautifully decorated with intricate patterns incorporating ornate Arabic script. Every inch of the ceiling is covered with colourful flowing markings, and it truly is breath-taking. Photographs are permitted within the mosque, and inevitably this means that the place is almost continually strobing with flash bulbs going off... which drives me up the wall, because the ceiling is far too far away to actually reflect any of the light from a camera's flash. Do yourself (and the building) a favour, and turn off your camera's flash, your camera will almost certainly be able to compensate for the reduced light, and increase the exposure time accordingly to produce equally good, if not better, pictures.

Anyway, rant over. Looking back at my pictures of the interior of the mosque itself, the decoration truly is awe-inspiring, and I think it's unlikely that anything I type here will do the building justice. Small areas of the interior surfaces of the dome have not been restored, so that visitors can see exactly how the domes would have looked had the restoration not been carried out.

It's forbidden for tourists to get too close to the eastern end of the mosque, and a barrier blocks you from approaching too close. Bear in mind too, that the mosque is closed during prayer times, check the times inside the mosque itself, because they change throughout the year with the timing of the dawn and sunset.

When you've finished admiring the mosque's interior, you leave through a door on the north side of the mosque, to a small area where you put your shoes back on, and put the black plastic bag into a box. Although admission to the Blue Mosque is free, you
would be a rude tourist not to give the mosque a donation. There is no recommended donation, but you have to be given a receipt – so that the mosque can be sure that the person collecting the donations isn't cheating them! A typical donation, when I went, was 250,000 Turkish Lira per person (that was under 20p in May 2001).

COURTYARD

The courtyard to the west of the mosque itself is also open to the public, and from here you can get an absolutely outstanding view of the domes of the Blue Mosque. The courtyard is exactly the same size as the mosque, creating a nice architectural balance to the place. The courtyard is surrounded by an impressive colonnade, topped by a series of small domes.

In the centre of the courtyard is a small ablutions fountain, though it is now entirely ornamental, since ablution is now carried out at the taps to the north-west on the outside of the building.

Also from the courtyard, you can clearly see the loudspeakers, which relay the muezzin's call to prayer five times per day, attached to the mosque's minarets.

WHEN TO GO

The Blue Mosque is only open to tourists between 9am and 5pm daily, so if you want to go inside the building, you'll have to visit between those hours.

However, the courtyard remains open to tourists until 10.30pm (at least, when I was there – I think it might be the time of the last call to prayer that coincides with the closure of the courtyard). Between May and September, the Blue Mosque is beautifully illuminated after dusk, and sitting in the courtyard late into the evening watching the seagulls pinwheel between the minarets is a truly magical, restful experience. If you go there at about 9pm, you'll most likely be the only tourist in the place – because the majority of tourists have been bussed back out of town to eat back at their Holiday Inn clone.

NOT JUST THE MOSQUE

On the site of the Blue Mosque
there are a couple of other buildings which are worth a look. To the north-east of the mosque itself, but within the courtyard, is the Imperial Pavilion, which is now home to the Vakiflar Carpet Museum. To the north-west of the mosque, outside of the courtyard, on the corner of Mimar Ahmet Aga Caddesi and Atmeydani Sok, is the tomb of Sultan Ahmet I, the Sultan responsible for commissioning the construction of the Blue Mosque (hence the name Sultan Ahmet Mosque).

Entering the tomb of Ahmet I will involve making another donation (again of 250,000 Turkish lira per person), and taking your shoes off again. You can leave your shoes outside this time though – no need to carry them with you in a plastic bag! Ahmet I's tomb also holds the body of Ahmet's son, Osman II. It's an impressive little building, with the tombs covered in large green drapes, and some impressive white-on-blue Arabic script on tiles running around the room.

BEST VIEW?

Arguably the best view of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul can be had from the Sultan Ahmet Meydani (Gardens) just next to the Sultanahmet tram stop on Divanyolu Caddesi. From here, you can look out over the mosque's minarets, which look like something from Disneyland. There are some seats looking out over the mosque here, but if you decide to sit here for a while, expect to be hassled by people wanting to shine your shoes!

CONCLUSIONS

Let's face it, if you're visiting Istanbul, the Blue Mosque must be on your list of attractions to visit – it's a truly amazing building, best experienced after dark when it is beautifully (and mercifully unostentatiously) floodlit. Admission is relatively cheap (or free, if you're mean enough to begrudge the mosque 20 pence!), and it's easy to get to, just a couple of minutes walk from the Sultanahmet tram stop.

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