The Blue Mosque is considered the first magnitude and one of the most beautiful mosques of Istanbul. In the mosque minarets 6: 4 - on the sides and 2 - on the outer corners. The Blue Mosque - is the greatest masterpiece, not only Islamic, but also the world of architecture. The mosque is located in the historic center of the city on the shore of the Sea of ​​Marmara. Opposite the Blue Mosque is a mosque Hagia Sophia. The Blue Mosque - one of the symbols of Istanbul.

In the days of the Ottoman Empire Ahmed I conducted once 2 war with Iran and Austria. The war ended with the signing in Austria Zhitvatorokskogo World (November 11 1606), which obliged the Ottomans to abandon the annual tribute to the Austrian and recognize the Habsburg imperial title. This defeat in conjunction with other events caused the decline in the authority of Turkey, so I decided to appease Ahmed Allah and to build a mosque. Construction of the mosque had very useful, because for 40 years was not yet built a single new mosque. In August of 1609 began the construction of the mosque. Sultans who ruled before Ahmet I, the mosque was built at the expense of funds obtained in the wars. Ahmed also had to take the money from the treasury. In the library of Topkapi Palace to this day kept 6 volumes descriptions of works on the construction of the mosque.

The mosque was decided to build a palace near Topkan .  Before the start of construction on the Hippodrome demolished several buildings and Byzantine periods ranneosmanskogo .  Build a mosque architect Mehmet Aga Sedefkar - pupil and assistant chief architect Sinan .  The mosque is made in two styles: classic Ottoman and Byzantine .  Legend has it that in accordance with the orders of the Sultan, the architect had to build 4 gold minaret, but the result was built 6 minarets .  7 years to build a mosque, and a year before the death of the Sultan (1616) was prepared .  Materials for the building served as the stone and marble .  As the decorations used a lot (more than 20,000), white and blue ceramic samples of handmade, so called Blue Mosque .  The size of the central hall of the mosque 53h51 m, diameter of the dome that covers the room - 23, 5 m, height - 43 m .  The inscriptions adorn the dome and semi-dome .  The dome is mounted on four huge columns with a diameter of 5 m .  Patterns that decorated the mosque depict lilies, tulips, roses and carnations .  On a white background made ornaments of different colors .  According to the estimates produced, patterns applied to perform more than 50 variations of the image of tulips .  On the floor of the mosque carpets laid .  In the mosque a lot of the light that enters through the windows 260 .  During the construction of the mosque were set glass brought from Venice, but later the glass was replaced .

Striking prayer niche - mihrab - carved out of marble. It placed a black stone, which was brought from Mecca. Near the mihrab is the minbar - a place where the imam preached. There is a special entrance to the mosque, located in the western part of the building. Above the entrance hangs a chain. Login intended for the sultan, who rode a horse into the courtyard of the mosque. At the entrance to the Sultan he was forced to bend, as the chain hung low. This action meant the insignificance of the Sultan of Allah.

Four minarets of the mosque are equipped with three balconies, two mosques - two. Originally built 14 terraces - so much was the Ottoman Sultans, including Ahmed I. A little later were completed another 2 balconies, due to the fact that the sultans considered sons of Ahmed I. Near the mosque is the mausoleum, it is buried Ahmed I, his wife and sons. In the north-eastern part of the mosque is the Sultan's Pavilion, here today equipped Carpet Museum.

After the completion of the Blue Mosque, it was found out that the number of minarets, and there were six, corresponding to the number of minarets in Masjid al-Haram, located in Mecca. In this regard, it was necessary to finish building the seventh minaret. An interesting fact is that from 1953 to 1976 was in the course of banknotes in denominations of 500 lire, on which was depicted the Blue Mosque.

The mosque can accommodate 10,000 people. Today, there is a tradition: it is going to Muslim pilgrims to Mecca before leaving.