Süleymaniye Camii

Lonely Planet review

The Süleymaniye crowns one of the seven hills, and dominates the Golden Horn, providing a landmark for the entire city. It was commissioned by the greatest, richest and most powerful of Ottoman sultans, Süleyman I (r 1520-66), known as 'The Magnificent', and was the fourth imperial mosque built in İstanbul, following the Fatih, Beyazıt and Selim I complexes.

Though it's not the largest of the Ottoman mosques, the Süleymaniye is certainly the grandest. It was designed by Mimar Sinan, the most famous and talented of all imperial architects. Though Sinan described the smaller Selimiye Camii in Edirne as his best work, he chose to be buried here in the Süleymaniye complex, probably knowing that this would be the building that he would be best remembered for. His tomb is just outside the mosque's walled garden, next to the medrese building.

The mosque was built between 1550 and 1557; records show that 3523 craftspeople worked on its construction. Though it's seen some hard times, being damaged by fire in 1660 and having its wonderful columns covered by cement and oil paint at some point after this, a restoration in 1956 and decades of subsequent care mean that it's in great shape these days. It's also one of the most popular mosques in the city, with worshippers rivalling the Blue Mosque in number.

The mosque's setting and plan are particularly pleasing, with well-tended gardens and a three-sided forecourt surrounded by a wall with grilled windows and featuring a central domed ablutions fountain. Its four minarets with their beautiful balconies are said to represent the fact that Süleyman was the fourth of the Osmani sultans to rule the city.

Inside, the mosque is breathtaking in its size and pleasing in its simplicity. It is also remarkably light. Sinan's design is particularly ingenious due to the fact that the buttresses used to support the four columns are incorporated into the walls of the building, masked by galleries with arcades of columns running between the buttresses. Put simply, the architect, ever challenged by the technical accomplishments of Aya Sofya, took the floor plan of that church and here perfected its adaptation to the requirements of Muslim worship.

There is little interior decoration other than some very fine İznik tiles in the mihrab, gorgeous stained-glass windows done by one İbrahim the Drunkard, and four massive columns - one from Baalbek in modern-day Lebanon, one from Alexandria and two from Byzantine palaces in İstanbul. The painted arabesques on the dome are 19th-century additions, recently renewed. If you visit when the stairs to the gallery on the northeast side (ie facing the Golden Horn) are open, make sure you go upstairs and out to the balcony. The views from this vantage point are among the best in the city.

The külliye of the Süleymaniye, which is outside the walled garden, is particularly elaborate, with the full complement of public services: soup kitchen, hostel, hospital etc. Today the soup kitchen, with its charming garden courtyard, houses the Dârüzziyafe Restaurant, which is a lovely place to enjoy a çay (tea). Lale Bahçesi , located in a sunken courtyard next to Dârüzziyafe, is an atmospheric venue for çay and nargileh. Both it and the nearby Meshur Kuru Fasülyecı , are extremely popular with students and locals. Those in need of an energy boost could make the short trip to Vefa Bozacısı , the most famous place in the city to sample boza, the İstanbullu tonic drink made with fermented grain.

The mosque's hamam still functions.

Near the southeast wall of the mosque is the cemetery, with the tombs of Süleyman and his wife Haseki Hürrem Sultan (Roxelana). The tilework in both is superb. In Süleyman's tomb, little jewel-like lights in the dome are surrogate stars. In Hürrem's tomb, the many tile panels of flowers and the delicate stained glass produce a serene effect.