Turkey Trot - The Blue Mosque

Turkey Trot - Overview
Turkey Trot - First Class
Turkey Trot - Are We There Yet?
Turkey Trot - Ephesus
Turkey Trot - Mary's House and Basilica of St. John
Turkey Trot - Swissotel Efes
Turkey Trot - Taking the Bus and Priene
Turkey Trot - Putting on the Ritz
Turkey Trot - The Blue Mosque
Turkey Trot - Topkapi Palace
Turkey Trot - Hagia Sophia
Turkey Trot - Carpets and Grand Bazaar
Turkey Trot - Dolmabahçe Palace and Taksim Square
Turkey Trot - Bosphorus Cruise
Turkey Trot - Turning Blu
Turkey Trot - Getting This Turkey Home

The next morning we met up with our guide, P, who would be walking us through the major attractions of Istanbul.  Three of the sites are very close to each other, right on the same peninsula.  While I had seen all of these before, they're still just fascinating buildings with quite a varied history and I was glad to walk through them again.

Created with Google Maps

First up was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (shown on the map above as the Boukoleon Palace) which is more popularly known as the Blue Mosque due to the vast number of blue tiles that line its interior.

In the seventeenth century Sultan Ahmet I had just ended the war with Persia and wanted to build a big mosque to reassert Ottoman power.  He chose to build on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors, even reusing the vault of the Grand Palace as part of the mosque's foundation.  At the time Hagia Sofia was the primary imperial mosque in the city and this one was built practically next door, designed to overshadow it.  It's also right beside the Hippodrome where chariot races and other sporting events were held.  Its location is significant as it dominates the city skyline when viewed from the south and its minarets are visible for miles.  The mosque has six minarets which was seen as presumptuous at the time because the mosque in Mecca also had six.  To keep the masses at ease, the sultan paid for an additional minaret to be built in Mecca so that it would always have more.

Minaret as viewed from the courtyard

One side of the courtyard. It's very difficult to get photos
with a good perspective because the building is massive
yet the walls prevent the photographer from backing up far
enough to take everything in.

There are over 20,000 handmade İznik style ceramic tiles lining the lower portions of the mosque in more than fifty different tulip designs.  The tiles at lower levels are more traditional in design with the designs growing more flamboyant the higher up they rise.

The sheer number of tiles used in this building
is a bit mind-blowing.

Some of the blue tiles are much more on the green side
of the color spectrum.

Several photos of the ceiling stitched together

The upper levels mostly have blue paint on the walls but that's offset by the more than 200 stained glass windows that admit natural light.  Today there are very large electric chandeliers throughout the main prayer room but it's still amazing how the design allows so much light into such a large space.

Richly designed stained glass windows

The floors are covered in carpet and the design is a grid that makes it very easy to distinguish where each worshiper's prayer rug should go to help maximize the number of men praying at a time.  The women's section was quite small by comparison and was actually behind the walkway where we tourists pass through.  One improvement that had been made since I was there last was that now there's a separate kiosk where they will loan out head scarves for women.  These new ones seem to be made out of material similar to medical scrubs and made to withstand more frequent washings.  While not as pretty as the silky scarves we'd been loaned on our previous visit, I felt much better about their cleanliness even though I'd brought my own scarf to cover my head and shoulders.

Floor area with a couple of worshipers

The remains of the Hippodrome of Constantinople are just outside the mosque.  Not much of it survives today as it's mostly a parking lot, but this was the area for horse and chariot races.  To raise the image of the city, which he had made a capital in AD 324, Constantine and his successors brought works of art from all over the empire to decorate the infield of the U-shaped racetrack.

He ordered the Tripod of Plataea brought from the Greek city of Delphi.  The tripod was cast to celebrate the victory of the Greeks during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC.  The tripod was a serpentine column topped by a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads.  Unfortunately the bowl was stolen or destroyed during the Fourth Crusade in the early 13th century.  The heads remained a bit longer as many Ottoman miniatures from the late 17th century show they were intact following the Turkish conquest of the city but today all that is left is the  Serpentine Column itself.

Serpentine Column

In 390 AD Theodosius the Great brought in an obelisk from the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt.  The obelisk was erected during the reign of Thutmose III in about 1490 BC.  It's carved from pink granite and was originally 30 meters tall.  Theodosius had it cut into three pieces for transport but somewhere along the way the bottom portion got damaged and so the remaining portion that stands today is 18.54m tall.  The carvings on each side celebrate Thutmose III's victory on the banks of the Euphrates River in 1450 BC.

Obelisk of Theodosius

The pedestal is intricately carved as well.  One side depicts Theodosius offering laurels of victory.  Another side demonstrates how the obelisk was erected: they dug a hole, secured the base and then mounted the obelisk on top of the pedestal.

Carvings depict spectators. Note where over the centuries
water has worn a column into the base.

Here's how you erect an obelisk...

The other item of note at the Hippodrome is the Walled Obelisk that was erected in the 10th century by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus.  It was originally covered with bronze plates but those were taken by Latin troops in the Fourth Crusade.  All that remains is the stone core.

Walled Obelisk

I always find the Blue Mosque fascinating and picturesque.  The sheer size of the building and the vast number of tiles lining it are just awe-inspiring when you consider the construction tools of the day.  Likewise, the fact that an obelisk carved 3500 years ago is standing and appears to be in fantastic shape is just amazing.   The first half of our busy morning was complete and it was time to move on to the next attraction.