Fatih Sultan Mosque, İstanbul.

inside view of Fatih Mosque at Night

The Fatih Mosque (Turkish: Fatih Camii, "Conqueror's Mosque" in English) is anOttoman imperial mosque located in the Fatihdistrict of Istanbul, Turkey. It was one of the largest examples of Turkish-Islamic architecture in Istanbul and represented an important stage in the development of classicTurkish architecture. It is named after Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, known in Turkish as Fatih Sultan Mehmed, the Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinople in 1453.

Sahn-ı Seman Medrese, a main center for the study of various traditional Islamic sciences such as theology, law, medicine, astronomy, physics and mathematics, were part of the Fatih Mosque and were founded by the Turk astronomer Ali Qushji who was invited by Mehmed to his court in Istanbul.

HistoryEdit

The Fatih mosque complex was a religious and social building of unprecedented size and complexity built in Istanbul between 1463-1470 by the order of Fatih Sultan Mehmed,[1] on the site of the former Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles, which had been in poor condition since the Fourth Crusade.[1] It was built by the Greek architect Atik Sinan.[1][2] The Fatih mosque was the first monumental project in the Ottoman imperial architectural tradition.[1]

Aerial view of the Fatih Mosque and the surrounding Külliye.

The original complex included a set of well-planned buildings constructed around the mosque. They include eight medrese, library, hospital, hospice, caravanserai, market, hamam, primary school and public kitchen (imaret) which served food to the poor. Various türbe were added at a later dates. The original complex covered an almost square area 325 meters on a side, extending along theGolden Horn side of Fevzipasa Street.

The original mosque was badly damaged in the 1509 earthquake, after that it was repaired, but was then damaged again by earthquakes in 1557 and 1754 and repaired yet again. It was then completely destroyed by an earthquake on 22 May 1766 when the main dome collapsed and the walls were irreparably damaged. The current mosque (designed on a completely different plan) was completed in 1771 under Sultan Mustafa III by the architect, Mimar Mehmet Tahir.

inside view of Fatih Mosque at Night