Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a Friday prayer in the Sultananmet Mosque, which opened on April 21 after restoration.
The head of state, speaking at the opening of the mosque, congratulated the Muslims on the holiday of Ramazan. He noted that it is gratifying that restoration work is completed to this significant day.
“Our main duty is to protect, preserve, revive this relic for centuries,” said Erdogan.
Sultananmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) – one of the most exquisite monuments of architecture of Turkish -Islamic civilization, has been attracting not only foreign, but also local tourists.
for hundreds of years.
built by decree of the Sultan Ahmed Khan I architect Sedefkar Mehmet Aga – the student and chief assistant Mimar Sinaan – the Blue Mosque incorporated all the beauty and sophistication of art and aesthetics of the 17th century.
The mosque is located on the shores of the Marmara Sea in the historical center of Istanbul – in the Sultananmet area – opposite the Ai -Sofia mosque.
The mosque has six minarets. Her dome is decorated with inscriptions – souras of the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.
The mosque gained its name thanks to the huge number of (more than 20 thousand) of white and blue Eznika ceramic handmade tiles, which are used in the scenery of the interior. Ceramics were delivered from the Iznik factories, which were famous for their quality.
In the patterns of the mosque, plant motifs prevail – traditional tulips, lilies, cloves and roses, as well as ornaments of various colors on a white background. In addition, it was estimated that for patterns of ceramic tiles, more than 50 variations of the image of tulips were used.
The mosque is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Islamic and world architecture. This is the first and only mosque of Ottoman architecture with six minarets.
inside the mosque is well lit – the light falls from 260 windows. The central hall is covered with a dome with a diameter of 23.5 meters and 43 meters high. The dome is leaning on four huge columns with a diameter of five meters each.
One of the amazing elements of the mosque is Mihrab – a prayer niche that is cut out of a whole piece of marble. It has a black stone brought from Mecca. Near Mikh and the Ministry ofBeaters is the place of imam for reading sermons.