Estanbul 2010

Its construction had been started on behalf of Safiye Sultan, a wife of Sultan Murad III in 1597, and after its construction was stopped in 1661 , it was restarted to  be built by Valide Tarhan Sultan, mother of IV Mehmet. A long construction term of  the New Mosque Complex caused the contribution of scores of architects. The first construction work was initiated by Davut Aga, a student of architect Sinan; then it was continued by Dalgıç Ahmet Aga.  A half-century later the task of finishing the project fell to Mustafa Ağa. It consists of three primary structures: a mosque, tomb and the sultan’s summer palace.

Photo by Niyazi Uğur Genca

Mosque

The influence of the Sehzadebaşı Mosque (Prince Management) on the New Mosque, is apparent because Davut Aga, one of the architects of the New Mosque, was an apprentice of the architect Sinan. Around a central dome, the ceiling of the mosque is surrounded by four half-domes that have the same diameter and are covered by many large and smaller mixed domes together.

The mosque has two minarets with each having three-shrefes (minaret balcony). The frame of the inner courtyard has twenty-two small domes and three entrance doors with domes in three different directions. There is a fountain made of marble with a dome in the middle of the inner courtyard.

Distinct changes from Classical Ottoman Architectural concept with the ornaments of the mosque are not seen, and the wall of the forecourt was demolished in the second half of the 19th century to ease the traffic around the Eminonu district. The recitation school (darülkurra) and Ottoman elementary-primary school (Sıbyan Mektebi) of the Mosque were also demolished in the subsequent period.