Turkish Mosaic circuit. The morning of day 8. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque -The Topkapi Palace Museum)

11th October 2010
Istambul -
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque - The Topkapi Palace Museum

I can't help  but thinking of some of Orhan Pamuk 's detailed "portrayals" of Istambul, which I "fell in love with" whilst reading his book of memories. I can't expect today's Istambul to be similar to his accounts of the past, nor Ara Güler's black and white photos to resemble the ones I hope to be able to take today ... but the truth is, I am overexcited at the thought of being here ...

We have today visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (commonly known as the Blue Mosque),  which was built between 1609 and 1616  and  considered to be the last great Mosque of the classical period. The fact that Sultan Ahmed had it built with 6 minarets led to a lot of criticism at the time, as it had the same number as the Mosque of Ka'aba in Mecca.

If the Mosque is already impressive, as seen from the courtyard, once we walk into it we are immediately taken by its unquestionable magnificence and beauty. Its interior is of a unique graciousness with columns decorated with more than 20,000 Iznit hand made ceramic tiles,  there are more than 200 stained glass windows, whose incoming light is combined with the one of a few chandeliers, and one should not forget the finely carved and sculptured  marble Mihrab with a richly decorated pulpit (Minber).

Gateway to the courtyard of the Mosque (Left). View of the Mosque from the inner courtyard (Right).

Interior view of the Mosque with its Mhirab and Minber (Right). 

The main dome and ceiling of the Mosque.

More than the richness and outstanding beauty of its decoration, I felt an unexpected growing respect and admiration for those who carried out this amazing work of Art, in the name of the allmighty.

As I walked out into the yard and looked back, I felt the Mosque had touched me in an almost undescribable way ...

We then headed towards the Topkapi National Museum, whose Imperial Gate entrance - The Gate of Salutation (Bâbüsselâm) made us realise we were actually walking into an outstanding 1460-1478 Palace, which until the mid 19th century was the residence of the  Ottoman Sultans.

A whole "world" of  gates, chambers and courtyards opened up in front of us, making it difficult to chose in which direction to go ... so we ended up visiting  the Baghdad Kiosk, the Circumcision Chamber and the Fast Breaking Pergola in the fourth courtyard, the Audience Chamber, the Library of Sultan Ahmed III and the Conquerors' pavillion in the third courtyard and finally the Gate of Felicity, the Tower of Justice and the Harem, all of which were located in the second courtyard.

I must admit the pomp and majesty of every chamber, the sumptuosity of the decoration, the fine craftsmanship which was to be seen in every small detail did catch my attention, but it was the Harem, (possibly because each one of us has built up an image of what it might have been and looked like) that was to astound me, because of its architectural, historic and organizational characteristics.

The  Apartment of Favourites (Left). The Imperial Hall (Right).

Detail of the apartment of the Mother of the Sultan (Left). Decorated ceiling in one of the privy rooms of the Sultans (Right). 

We had a "reinforced" lunch at the restaurant inside the Topkapi Museum gardens, as if in preparation for the afternoon  visit to the Grand Bazaar ... , which in its own right (according to what I have read) is also to be accounted for as a cultural place of interest ...

It has been a very interesting though tiring morning, so I just hope I  can manage to walk around some of the Grand Bazaar 45,000 square metres ..., because being an handicraft "lover" I am really dying to see some of the  genuine Turkish handicraft products (hopefully) ...