Suleymaniye Mosque

The Suleymaniye Mosque stands on the third hill of Istanbul and is reckoned Mimar Sinan's chief work in the capital itself. It was built between 1550 and 1557 for Suleiman the Magnificent.

An argument with the Hagia Sophia

The architect was deliberately arguing with the Hagia Sophia: a central dome about twenty-seven metres across rests on four massive piers and opens into two half-domes along the long axis. The scheme is Byzantine but reworked, and inside the space reads more clearly than in its model.

Minarets as a signature

The four minarets in the courtyard mean the patron was the fourth Ottoman sultan to rule from Istanbul, and their ten balconies say he was the tenth of the dynasty. Numerical signatures like this are rare in Ottoman architecture.

Not only a mosque

The complex was never only a mosque: a madrasa, a hospital, a kitchen for the poor, a bathhouse and a caravanserai stood around it, and some of these buildings survive. The terrace behind the mosque gives a view over the Golden Horn and Galata, one of the best in the city and almost always uncrowded.

The tombs

In the cemetery behind the mihrab stand the tombs of Suleiman himself and of Roxelana, and a little to one side the modest grave of Sinan: he is buried by the wall of the complex he built.

Inside

The walls carry almost no painting, but the stained glass gives coloured light, and clay vessels set into the vaults sharpen the acoustics. The fire of 1660 and later alterations changed the interior, but in the nineteenth century the building was returned to something close to its original appearance. The mosque is in use: entry is free, but visitors are kept out during prayers, and on Fridays it opens only in the afternoon.

Address

Third hill, Istanbul · tram T1 to Beyazit

Opening hours

Daily 9:00–18:00, shut for prayers; Fri from 14:30

Prices

Free

On the map