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Nuruosmaniye Mosque
The Nuruosmaniye, “the light of Osman”, stands in the Çemberlitaş neighbourhood, in the Fatih district, next to the Grand Bazaar and near the Column of Constantine. It was commissioned by Sultan Mahmud I in 1748 and completed in 1755, already under Osman III. It was the first imperial mosque built in Istanbul in about a hundred years. Its architect was Simeon Kalfa, and it is the first great example of Ottoman Baroque, which incorporates European Baroque and neoclassical elements: curved pediments, mixtilinear arches and carvings in place of the classical muqarnas. It has a single dome 25.4 metres in diameter and 43.5 in height, the third largest among the city's historic domes after Hagia Sophia and Süleymaniye. Its horseshoe-shaped courtyard has no precedent in an Ottoman mosque. The complex includes an oval-plan library, a madrasa, an imaret, a sultan's pavilion, a sebil and a mausoleum.
Add it to your trip on Wanloria →Things to do at Nuruosmaniye Mosque: 3 missions
- Walk the horseshoe-shaped courtyardStroll through the semicircular courtyard, a feature unprecedented in Ottoman mosques, and watch how its arches curve.
- Look at the dome, the third largest in IstanbulFrom outside, or inside if it is open, pick out the single dome, 25.4 m in diameter.
- Find the curved pediments and Baroque carvingsFind a curved pediment or a mixtilinear arch and compare its decoration with traditional muqarnas.
Near Nuruosmaniye Mosque
Frequently asked questions
How much time do you need for Nuruosmaniye Mosque?
Allow about 30 min for the visit.
What is there to do at Nuruosmaniye Mosque?
Walk the horseshoe-shaped courtyard, Look at the dome, the third largest in Istanbul and Find the curved pediments and Baroque carvings.
What is there to see near Nuruosmaniye Mosque?
Grand Bazaar (222 m), Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (552 m) and Sultanahmet Köftecisi (594 m).