Süleyman the Magnificent had the square-shaped Şehzade Mehmet Mosque built between 1543 and 1548 as a memorial to his son Mehmet, who died of smallpox in 1543 at the age of 22. It was the first important mosque to be designed by Mimar Sinan and has a lovely garden setting, two double-balconied minarets and a large colonnaded courtyard with a şadırvan (ablution fountain) at its center. Inside, the central dome is supported by four semidomes (one on each side of the square).
Among the many important people buried in the five tile-encrusted tombs on the mosque's eastern side are Prince Mehmet, Süleyman's grand vezir Rüstem Paşa, and the son and daughter of Mehmed III (the son killed by order of his father). Other still-surviving parts of the külliye include a medrese and a tabhane (inn for traveling dervishes) that is now used as a laboratory by the neighboring Vefa Lycée.