The Blue Mosque

Entrance Fee : FREE

Visiting Hours :
08:30 – 11:30 | 13:00 – 14:30 | 15:30 – 16:45
13:30 – 15:30 (Friday Only)

Check for praying times

Address : Sultan Ahmet, Atmeydanı Cd. No:7, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul

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Notes for visitors

Visitors should remove their shoes before stepping onto the mosque’s carpets. Avoid visiting Blue Mosque at prayer times (five times a day), especially noon praying on Fridays. Women should wear a head covering when entering to the Blue Mosque. Photography is allowed, however do not take pictures of people who are in to pray. Stay silent during your visit, don’t run and stand in front of anyone praying.

Masterpiece Of The History Of Architecture

The Sultanahmet Mosque was built between 1609 and 1617 and is also known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles used to decorate the walls of its interior. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque has one main dome, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour.