The most beautiful mosques to visit Istanbul

It is one of the most famous panoramas of Istanbul and yet, one never tires of admiring and photographing it: the mosque in the foreground, the Bosphorus and the suspension bridge in the background... The building is located on the tip of the Defterdar, on the European side of the Bosphorus, in the Ortaköy district. Commissioned by Abdülmecid, it was completed in 1853 by the architect Garabed Balian. We usually call it by the name of the neighbourhood, its real name being Mecidiye Camii.

You can only be struck by the grace and elegance of this mosque, which is unlike any other. Combining baroque and neoclassical styles, it has the particularity of having the finest minarets in the world! On the side, the clock of the Dolmabahçe Palace perfectly complements the softness of the landscape. Another marriage between the West and the East, its architect is Garabed Balyan, appointed by Sultana Mother Bezmi Alem, who built the building in the mid-19th century.

It is one of the oldest mosques in Istanbul, as evidenced by the epigraphy on the pediment of the front door dated 1471-1472. The prayer hall is an exception in Ottoman architecture, which tends to favour larger ranks of the faithful. It was built on the initiative of Has Hasan Paşa, which is illustrated during the wars waged by Mehmed the Conqueror against the Turkoman White Sheep dynasty, Uzun Hasan.