Şehzade Mosque
| Şehzade Mosque | |
|---|---|
Şehzade Mosque
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Istanbul, Turkey |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°00′49.7″N 28°57′25.8″E / 41.013806°N 28.957167°ECoordinates: 41°00′49.7″N 28°57′25.8″E / 41.013806°N 28.957167°E |
| Affiliation | Islam |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) | Mimar Sinan |
| Architectural type | Mosque |
| Groundbreaking | 1543 |
| Completed | 1548 |
| Specifications | |
| Dome height (outer) | 37 meters (121 ft) |
| Dome dia. (inner) | 19 meters (62 ft) |
| Minaret(s) | 2 |
| Minaret height | 55 meters (180 ft) |
| Materials | cut stone, granite, marble |
The Şehzade Mosque (Turkish: 'Şehzade Camii') from the original Persian شاهزاده Šāhzādeh, meaning Prince, is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent as a memorial to his son Şehzade Mehmed who died in 1543. It is sometimes referred to as the "Prince's Mosque" in English. In a June 2016 attack, the windows of the mosque were shattered.
The construction of the Şehzade Complex (külliye) was ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent as a memorial to his favorite son Şehzade Mehmed (born 1521) who died in 1543 while returning to Istanbul after a victorious military campaign in Hungary. Mehmed was the eldest son of Suleiman's only legal wife Hürrem Sultan - although not his eldest son - and before his untimely death he was primed to accept the sultanate following Suleiman's reign. Suleiman is said to have personally mourned the death of Mehmed for forty days at his temporary tomb in Istanbul, the site upon which the imperial architect Mimar Sinan would construct a lavish mausoleum to Mehmed as one part of a larger mosque complex dedicated to the princely heir. The complex was Sinan's first important imperial commission and ultimately one of his most ambitious architectural works, even though it was designed early in his long career.
The mosque is entered through a marble-paved colonnaded forecourt with an area equal to that of the mosque itself. The courtyard is bordered by a portico with five domed bays on each side, with arches in alternating pink and white marble. At the center is an ablution fountain (şadırvan), which was a later donation from Sultan Murat IV. The twin minarets have two galleries and elaborate geometric sculpture in low bas-relief and occasional terracotta inlays. It is the only non-sultanic mosque designed by Sinan with a pair of minarets with two galleries.
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Wikipedia