Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Historic Areas Of Istanbul, 1985); Working Imperial Mosque, Free Entry · Istanbul, Istanbul

Sultan Ahmed I built his mosque between 1609 and 1616 directly facing Hagia Sophia, which was an argument made in stone - the Ottomans answering the greatest building of the empire they had taken. It is still a working neighbourhood mosque with free entry and no ticket office, and the name everyone uses comes from the twenty thousand Iznik tiles lining the upper walls and galleries, blue-dominant and at their best on a bright morning when light comes through the two hundred-odd windows. Six minarets were enough of a provocation at the time that the sultan is said to have paid for a seventh at Mecca to settle the offence. A long restoration finished recently, so the interior is finally clear of scaffolding. Tourists enter by a marked side door, leave their shoes in a bag and are kept out for about ninety minutes around each of the five prayers, with the longest closure at Friday midday. Come straight after one of them ends.

Binbirdirek Mahallesi, At Meydani Caddesi, Fatih, Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkiye

Open daily and free. Tourist visiting is suspended for roughly ninety minutes around each of the five daily prayers, and for a longer window at Friday midday. Prayer times move through the year with the sun. Visitors enter by a marked tourist door, not the courtyard door worshippers use. Ramadan changes the pattern substantially.

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